- Ostwind was originally commissioned as a racing yacht in 1938.
- The ship changed hands several times and finally sank in Miami.
- READ MORE: Hitler’s last 24 hours
A yacht once owned by Adolf Hitler now sits just five miles off the coast of Miami Beach.
Hitler originally commissioned the 80-foot Ostwind in 1938 as an Olympic racing boat after Germany’s poor performance at the 1936 Olympics.
However, the Ostwind never participated in competition and was used by Nazi officials, including Hitler.
Florida historian Mike Miller, who has researched the ship, said the Nazi leader even planned to sail the Ostwind to Britain. If Germany won the war.
There is no definitive record of how much time Hitler spent on the ship, however there is a photo of him with his lover Eva Braun on board the ship.
Historians believe he may have only visited the ship he commissioned for Olympic glory only a handful of times.
A yacht named Ostwind once owned by Adolf Hitler sits just five miles off the coast of Miami Beach. The yacht, now 80 feet long, sits at the bottom of the ocean.
What is known, however, is that after World War II ended in 1945, the United States took control of the Ostwind as a war prize and used it as a training ship at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The navy sold the Ostwind in the 1950s and for the next 20 years she was sold between various owners.
In the mid-1970s, a collector of Nazi memorabilia purchased the ship and took it to a salvage center in Jacksonville with the intention of restoring it to its former glory.
But he did not pay for the mooring space and the shipyard’s owner, JJ Nelson, repossessed the ship in 1981.
When word spread that the ship belonged to Hitler, it was repeatedly vandalized.
Nelson then rejected an offer from the Chicago-based American Nazi Party, which wanted to buy the ship and use it as a place of worship for Hitler.
On the other hand the He handed over the ship to a Jewish group in 1988.
The Israeli consulate in Miami then approached Miami Beach City Commissioner Abe Resnick, who suggested sinking the ship and turning it into an artificial reef.
On June 4, 1989, the Ostwind was in such poor condition that the ship was launched from a barge and sunk in the ocean to commemorate the 50th anniversary of what is known as the “Voyage of the Damned,” according to state records.
Hitler (pictured) originally commissioned the Ostwind in 1938 as a racing yacht, but she never entered competition and was instead used by Nazi officials.
During this voyage, a group of German Jewish refugees aboard the ship, lined up as the SS St. Louis, were sent to Havana, Cuba by the Nazis in 1939.
Both Cuba and the United States denied them permission and forced them to return to Europe, where more than half of their passengers died during the Holocaust.
On June 29, 1989, more than two weeks after her initial sinking, the yacht was refloated and sunk again in a deeper part of the ocean, as she posed a danger to marine life on the coral reef, as well as to the passing ships.
The only way to see the Ostwind is by diving with scuba gear on the ocean floor.
The Ostwind was in such poor condition that the ship was launched from a barge and sunk in the ocean to commemorate the 50th anniversary of what is known as the “Voyage of the Damned” on June 4, 1989, according to state records. .