Class overview | |
---|---|
Operators | Black Sea State Shipping Company |
Subclasses | Abkhazia |
In service | 1928–1966 |
Completed | 6 |
Lost | 4 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics as per MS Krim | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage |
|
Length | 115.9 m (380 ft 2 in) |
Beam | 15.6 m (51 ft 1 in) |
Draught | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
Depth | 7.7 m (25.3 ft) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power | 1,163 nhp |
Propulsion | 2 screw propellers; 2 diesel engines |
Speed | 13 or 15 knots (24 or 28 km/h; 15 or 17 mph) |
Capacity | 450 passengers |
The Krim-class ocean liners consisted of six ships built during the late 1920s for service in the Black Sea. The first two ships were built in Germany, but the rest were built in the Soviet Union. Four ships were sunk during the Second World War, while the other two survived the war.
In 1928 the Sovtorgflot (Soviet Commercial Fleet) ordered two ships from the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel, Germany and procured a license to build four more at the Baltic Works in Leningrad. The latter ships were virtually identical with their half-sisters, but differed slightly in some respects. The Krim-class ships were intended for service in the Black Sea with the Black Sea State Shipping Company.
The German-built ships, MS Krim and MS Gruziya, had an overall length of 115.9 metres (380 ft 2 in), with a beam of 15.6 metres (51 ft 1 in) and a draught of 5.8 metres (19 ft). [1] They had two decks and a depth of hold of 7.7 metres (25.3 ft). The ships were assessed at 4,867 gross register tons (GRT), 2,683 net register tons (NRT), [2] and 1,520 tons deadweight (DWT). [1] Krim and Gruziya had a pair of six-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engines, each driving a screw propeller, and the engines were rated at a total of 1,163 nominal horsepower. [2] [3] Sources differ about their maximum speed, quoting speeds of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) [1] or 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). [4] The ship had a designed capacity of 450 passengers. [4]
Name | Builder [1] | Construction [4] | Fate |
---|---|---|---|
MS Abkhazia | Baltic Works, Leningrad | 1928 | Sunk by German aircraft, 10 June 1942 [5] |
MS Adzharistan | Sunk by German aircraft, 23 July 1941 | ||
MS Armenia | Sunk by a German torpedo bomber, 7 November 1941 | ||
MS Gruziya | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel, Germany | Sunk by German aircraft, 13 June 1942 [5] | |
MS Krim | Converted into a training ship, 1966 [4] | ||
MS Ukraina | Baltic Works, Leningrad | Sunk by German aircraft, 2 July 1942 [6] |
After completion, they were assigned to the Black Sea State Shipping Company with their port of registry at Odessa. [2] [1]
Ryusei Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in England in 1911 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as Bra-Kar for Fred. Olsen & Co. of Norway. In 1916 she changed owners and was renamed Havø. In 1935 she changed owners again and was renamed Mabuhay II.
Tango Maru (丹後丸) was a cargo motor ship that was built in Germany in 1926 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as Rendsburg for the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG), which in 1926 merged with Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).
SS Donau was a Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Germany in 1929 and sunk in occupied Norway in 1945. In the 1930s she sailed mostly between Bremen and the West Coast of the United States via the Panama Canal.
HMS Port Quebec was a British motor ship that was designed and launched in 1939 to be the refrigerated cargo ship Port Quebec, but completed in 1940 as an auxuiliary minelayer. In 1944 she was converted into an aircraft component repair ship and renamed HMS Deer Sound. In 1947 she was returned to her owner, Port Line, and completed as a cargo ship. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1968.
USS Charlton Hall (ID-1359) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1907 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States and Greece. She served in the United States Navy in 1918. She was renamed Atlantis and then Anastasis in 1930. She was scrapped in China in 1934.
SS Binnendijk was a Holland America Line (NASM) cargo steamship. She was one of NASM's "B" class ships: the company's first cargo ships to be powered by steam turbines. Binnendijk was built in South Holland in 1921, and sunk by a mine in the English Channel in 1939. She was the first ship that NASM lost in the Second World War. Her wreck off the coast of Dorset, England is now a wreck diving site, nicknamed "The Benny".
HMS Agamemnon was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Agamemnon. She was built in 1929, traded between the UK and the Far East, and was scrapped in 1963. During the Second World War she was converted into an auxiliary minelayer in 1940, and then into an amenities ship in 1943.
HMS Menestheus was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Menestheus. She was built in 1929, and traded between the UK and the Far East. She was an auxiliary minelayer from 1940 to 1943. When the Second World War in 1945, she was undergoing conversion into an amenities ship. She was scrapped in 1953 after being gutted by fire.
HMS Southern Prince was a motor ship that was built in 1929 as the refrigerated cargo ship Southern Prince. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940 as a minelayer. She became a headquarters ship and then an accommodation ship in 1944, was a fleet training ship in 1945, and returned to civilian trade in 1946. In 1947 she was sold to Italian owners who had her refitted as a passenger ship and renamed her Anna C. From 1952 she was a cruise ship. She was scrapped in 1972.
HMS Teviot Bank was a Bank Line steamship that was built in England in 1938 as the cargo ship Teviotbank. In the Second World War she was a Royal Navy auxiliary minelayer. By 1956 a Panamanian company had bought her and renamed her Nella. She was scrapped in Italy in 1971.
TSS City of Belfast was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1893, renamed Nicolaos Togias in 1925, renamed Kephallinia in 1933 and sank in 1941. She was owned and registered in Britain until 1925, when she passed to Greek owners.
MS Gruziya was one of six Soviet Krim-class ocean liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. The ship was sunk by a German bomber en route to the latter port in June; there were no survivors.
SS Benlomond was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1922 as Cynthiana, changed owners and names a number of times, and was sunk by a U-boat in 1942, with the loss of all but one of her 53 ship's company. The sole survivor, Poon Lim, drifted on a raft for 133 days before being rescued.
Olsztyn was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as Imkenturm in 1944 by Werf de Noord, Alblasserdam, Netherlands for DDG Hansa, Bremen, Germany. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed Empire Gantry. She was allocated to the Soviet Union in 1946 and was renamed Feodosia. Sold to Poland in 1947, she was renamed Olsztyn. She served until 1972, when she was scrapped.
Jagiełło was a medium-sized passenger-cargo ship, sailing under the Polish flag between 1948 and 1949, and then decommissioned due to unprofitable and post-war political conditions, which were not conducive to the development of the Polish passenger fleet, and then transferred to the Soviet Union as Pyotr Velikiy, operating Black Sea passenger services until 1973. The ship had been built by Blohm & Voss for Turkish operators, taken over after completion by the German government. After World War 2 it taken over by the British and then the Soviet Government.
SS Santa Fé was a German refrigerated cargo steamship. She is now a Black Sea shipwreck and part of her cargo is of interest to marine archaeologists.
MS Krim was the lead ship of her class of six cargo liners built for the Soviet Union in the late 1920s. The ship was the sole ship of her class to survive the Second World War. She was converted into a training ship in 1966.
MS Abkhazia was one of six Soviet Krim-class cargo liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. She was sunk by German aircraft in the port in June.
MS Adzharistan was one of six Soviet Krim-class cargo liners built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company during the late 1920s. The first pair were built in Weimar Germany, but the other four, including Adzharistan, were built in the Soviet Union and varied slightly from the German-built ships. A month after the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Axis powers in June 1941, she was destroyed by German aircraft.
MS Ukraina was one of six Soviet Krim-class ocean liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. She was sunk by German aircraft in July.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)