11/16/2025
A cabin on board the Aachen, a 19th-century steamship hit by a torpedo in July 1915. Now located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
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The SS Aachen was a German passenger steamship launched in 1889, operating primarily in the Baltic and North Seas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On July 31, 1915, during World War I, the ship met a violent end when it was struck by a torpedo fired by a Russian submarine. The attack was sudden and devastating—Aachen sank rapidly, taking with it several passengers and crew, and coming to rest on the cold floor of the Baltic Sea.
What makes the wreck particularly extraordinary today is the remarkable state of preservation found inside its cabins, such as the one shown in the image. Because the Baltic Sea is brackish, cold, and extremely low in oxygen, it lacks the wood-eating organisms present in most oceans. As a result, interiors like furniture, paneling, beds, and personal objects remain almost eerily intact. Many of the ship’s cabins look frozen in time, as though the passengers had only just left.
Divers who explore the Aachen describe an environment that feels more like walking through an abandoned building than a century-old shipwreck. Decorative woodwork, portholes, and structural details still retain their original form, making the Aachen one of the Baltic Sea’s most atmospheric and historically valuable wrecks—an underwater time capsule from the final years of the grand European steamship era.