The Armenia was a transport ship operated by the Soviet Union during World War II to carry both wounded soldiers and military cargo. It had originally been built as a passenger ship for operations on the Black Sea, one of the first passenger ships constructed in the Soviet Union.
Armenia was sunk on November 7 1941 by German torpedo-carrying He 111 aircraft while the ship was evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff from several of Crimea’s hospitals. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 people died in the sinking, including up to 2,000 unregistered passengers on board the ship.[1] There were only eight survivors, who were picked up by an escort vessel. There were red crosses painted on both sides of the ship; however, they were ignored by the pilots during the attack.[2]