The Baltictech Group has found and identified the wreck of the 1945 SS Frankfurt.

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The Baltictech Group has found and identified the wreck of the 1945 German SS Frankfurt unit that took part in Operation Hannibal.

During the exploration, which Baltictech group carries out systematic research in the Baltic SeaAnother discovery was made. This time the Polish searchers identified the wreck of the German SS Frankfurt unit from World War II. The vessel, which was sailing to Gdynia to take German refugees during the evacuation operation “Hannibal”, was sunk by Soviet airmen on 22 March 1945.

Location

According to information made public by members of the group, the wreck lies at a depth of 82 metres, 40 Mm north of Rozewie. During its last voyage, the SS Frankfurt did not carry any cargo and all the crew rescued themselves.

A year ago, we at Baltictech set ourselves the goal of finding the last five undiscovered shipwrecks that took part in Operation Hannibal – the largest maritime evacuation in history, during which the Germans lost as many as 247 vessels – we read in the entry informing about finding of the SS Frankfurt bell.

Long list

Although about a hundred of the 250 sunken ships were recovered after the war, the remaining 150 are still lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea today. Among them are the three most famous: Wilhelm Gustloff, Goya i Steuben.

Most of the wrecks are badly damaged, a large part are small boats and barges that are impossible to identify. Certainly among the largest that are still missing are the Orion, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Baltenland and Gerrit Fritzen – – Baltictech’s profile reads.

Success to date

The above list has been reduced somewhat by Baltictech members since last year The group located and identified the wreck of the SS Karlsruhe. There is no doubt that this was a major event, which was covered by media around the world. In turn, at the beginning of July, thanks to the work done by Baltictech, the SS Frankfurt was added to the units located.

The wreck of the SS Frankfurt is in good condition, with the stern slightly buried in the bottom. The rest of it is densely covered with broken fishing nets, but it looks beautiful. The vessel is “militarised”, i.e. has anti-aircraft gun nests at the bow and stern – – members of the Baltictech group report their discovery.

In conclusion, it should be emphasised that the wreck was identified 100% by finding a ship’s bell bearing the name SS Frankfurt.

Baltictech team

Tomasz Stachura
Tomasz Zwara
Marek Cacaj
Jacek Kapczuk
Lukasz Piorewicz
Piotr Lalik
Lukasz Pastwa
Kamil Macidłowski
Krzysztof Wnorowski

Photo: Marek Cacaj/Baltictech