and the Elbing-class torpedo boat were giving cover to a German bridgehead near Wollin. During that operation, naval small craft evacuated over 75,000 soldiers and civilians who had been isolated in that area. They were taken to larger warships and other transports lying offshore. While a number of these transports were sunk, large liners such as SS Deutschland got through and carried up to 11,000 soldiers and civilians each. During the night of April 4–5, a flotilla of small boats and landing craft evacuated over 30,000 soldiers and civilians from Oxhöfter Kämpe and took them to Hela. It is estimated that nearly 265,000 people were evacuated from Danzig (modern Gdańsk) to Hela during the month of April alone. On April 15, another large convoy consisting of four liners and other transports left Hela with over 20,000 soldiers and civilians. On April 16, the Goya was torpedoed and sunk by L-3, with the loss of over 6,000 lives; 183 survived. Initially, on his becoming Reich President on May 1, Karl Dönitz was determined to continue the war, going so far as to instruct Generaloberst Carl Hilpert that combat troops would have priority in evacuation to Germany from the Courland Pocket. It was not until the afternoon of May 6, with British troops practically on his doorstep, that he gave up on that plan. From May 1 to May 8, over 150,000 people were evacuated from the beaches of Hela. At 21:00 on May 8, 1945, the last day of the war, a convoy consisting of 92 large and small vessels left the Latvian city of Liepāja () with 18,000 soldiers and civilians. While several hundred of those who had boarded small ships on the last day of the war or after were captured by Soviet MTBs, evacuations to the west continued for at least a week after all such movements were prohibited by the terms of the German surrender. Shortages Shortages plagued the operation with food and medicine being seen as primary issues for the Nazi administration, causing a trend of elderly and very young children to die on board the rescue ships. Other shortages included only a three-week supply of coal remaining for the sea transport tasks and only a ten-day supply for rail transports to move troops to the front, with fuel being at its lowest levels since the war began. Losses In addition to the Goya, Wilhelm Gustloff,