In 1939 NDL had in service 70 vessels with a total of , including the sail training vessel "Kommodore Johnsen" (now the Russian "STS Sedov"), 3 daytrip ships, 19 tugs and 125 small ships, and employed 12,255, 8,811 on vessels. Nine further freighters were completed after the outbreak of World War II. This entire fleet was either lost during the war or awarded to the Allies as reparations. "Columbus" had to be sunk in 1939; "Bremen" burned in 1941; "Steuben" was sunk in the Baltic in 1945 with the loss of some 4,000 lives; "Europa", claimed by France, became the "Liberté" in 1947.