SS Vale

In the Second World War she carried German refugees and wounded in the evacuation of East Prussia in 1945.

The combined power output of her two engines was rated at 478 NHP,[6] and gave her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h).

[5] Vale's navigation equipment included wireless direction finding, and an echo sounding device.

She was equipped with wireless telegraphy, but her maritime call sign was never entered in Lloyd's Register, possibly because the beginning of the Second World War intervened.

Most were moved by sea in Operation Hannibal, in ships leaving Danzig (now Gdańsk), Gotenhafen (now Gdynia), and Pillau (now Baltiysk).

Soviet submarines sank some of the ships, including the liners Wilhelm Gustloff on 30 January and Steuben on 10 February, killing thousands of refugees in each case.

[18][19] On or just before 22 March, Vale landed hundreds of refugees and wounded at Swinemünde (now Świnoujście), where fishing boats took them across the Oder Lagoon to Ueckermünde.

As the Battle of Königsberg continued, tens of thousands of refugees gathered in Pillau, about 25 miles (40 km) west of the city, to be evacuated by sea.

Brage , one of Vale ' s sister ships, showing her cruiser stern , and the separation between her bridge and the superstructure around her funnel.
Sabine Howaldt , one of Vale ' s sister ships, in 1942. She is painted in camouflage colours, and has anti-aircraft guns on raised platforms on her fo'c's'le and flying bridge .
German refugees boarding a ship in Pillau (now Baltiysk ) in early 1945.