The Hipper is included here because of its involvement in the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster. One of the referenced article [2] in the bibliography page indicates that the Hipper sailed past the doomed Gustloff due to the threat of nearby submarines, leaving one to believe no attempt had been made to rescue survivors.

Yet, according to other sources, namely [113], it is not so. The author of the book "The Damned don't drown", Arthur V. Sellwood leaves no doubt that indeed the Hipper made a valiant effort to rescue some of the survivors. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons all as valid as the next, the Hipper's attempts seemed to have succeeded only in scaring the survivors more than anything. On one of its 'passes', the Hipper turned on its powerful searchlight only to convince some of the hapless survivors that it was an attempt by their attacker to gun them down.

Only when the Hipper received radio signals indicating the presence of ennemy subs in their immediate area did it leave the scene at all speed. But a serious attempt had been made to rescue survivors.

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