Kristina Cruises is a Finnish family-owned shipping company with over fifty years of experience in cruise business. The company was founded in 1985 and registered in Kotka. In addition to the five destinations in the early days of business they currently sail to more than 70 ports. Summer destinations traditionally include several ports of the Baltic Sea, Norwegian fjords and other cities in Northern Europe. In the autumn the ship usually sails in the Mediterranean, where one week cruises to many different destinations are arranged. During winter seasons their ships have sailed in Canary Islands and east coast of Africa.
USS Du Pont (DD–152) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II, later reclassified as AG-80. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont.
USS Execute (AM-232) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered and laid down as USS PCE-905, the lead ship of the PCE-905 class of patrol craft. She was reclassified as an Admirable-class minesweeper by the time of her June 1944 launch, and named Execute by the time of her November 1944 commissioning. After service in the Pacific during World War II, she was decommissioned in August 1946 and placed in reserve. While she remained in reserve, Execute was reclassified as MSF-232 in February 1955 but never reactivated. In 1962, she was sold to the Mexican Navy and renamed ARM DM-03. In 1994, she was renamed ARM General Juan N. Méndez (C51). She was stricken in July 2001, but her ultimate fate is not reported in secondary sources.
The third USS Magnet (ADG-9) was a degaussing vessel of the United States Navy, named after the magnet. Originally planned as a patrol craft escort (PCE-879), she was laid down on 27 May 1943 by the Albina Engine & Machine Works of Portland, Oregon; launched 30 September 1943; reclassified YDG-9 on 23 December 1943; and commissioned 10 July 1944.
USS Lodestone (ADG-8) was a degaussing vessel of the United States Navy, named after the mineral lodestone. Originally planned as a patrol craft escort (PCE-876), she was laid down on 27 May 1943 by the Albina Engine & Machine Works of Portland, Oregon; launched 30 September 1943; reclassified YDG-8 on 23 December 1943; and commissioned 10 July 1944.
USS Buttress (PCE-878/ACM-4) was an auxiliary minelayer (ACM) in the United States Navy during World War II. This ship and USS Monadnock (ACM-10) were the only ACMs not previously U.S. Army mineplanters.
HMS Seadog was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in September 1942, she spent most of her career in Arctic waters, off Norway, but sank only one German ship in 13 patrols. In January 1945, she was redeployed to the Far East, meeting more success. On her first patrol in the area, the submarine rescued four American airmen. After two patrols, she and her sister ship HMS Shalimar sank five sailing vessels, two coasters, a barge, a tugboat and a Japanese tank landing ship. After the war ended, Seadog was sent back to England, placed in reserve, then sold for scrap in December 1947. She was ultimately broken up in August 1948.
USS Lamar (PCE-899)/USCGC Lamar (WTR-899) was a PCE-842-class patrol craft acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for the task of patrolling assigned ocean areas or protecting larger ships in convoy.
BRP Datu Marikudo (PS-23) was a Malvar-class corvette of the Philippine Navy. She was originally built as USS PCE(R)-853, a PCE(R)-848-class patrol craft for the United States Navy during World War II. She was renamed USS Amherst on 15 February 1956. In February 1970, Amherst was decommissioned and transferred to South Vietnam for service in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as RVNS Vạn Kiếp II (HQ-14). She remained in South Vietnamese service until the collapse of that country in 1975. Vạn Kiếp II was one of several ships that fled from South Vietnam to the Philippines. She was then commissioned into the Philippine Navy on 5 April 1976 and named in honor of Datu Marikudo. Along with other World War II-era ships of the Philippine Navy, Datu Marikudo was considered one of the oldest active fighting ships in the world until her decommissioning.
SS Oster is a Norwegian steamship built in 1908 by Christianssands Mekaniske Værksted for the Indre Nordhordlandske Dampskibsselskab to provide a combined passenger and cargo service between Bergen and Osterfjorden in Norway. During World War II she served as a guard ship with both the Royal Norwegian Navy and later with the German Kriegsmarine. Following the war she returned to civilian service and is still in service providing pleasure cruises from Bergen. In 1963 the Bergen deaf priest Ragnvald Hammer wrote the poem " Dar kjem dampen" in honor of the ship. Norwegian folksinger Ivar Medaas later added a tune to this poem.
HMS Halsted (K556), ex-Russell, was a Captain-class frigate of the Buckley class of destroyer escort, originally intended for the United States Navy. Before she was finished in 1943, she was transferred to the Royal Navy under the terms of Lend-Lease, and saw service from 1943 to 1944 during World War II.
HMS Hargood (K582) was a Captain-class frigate which served in the Royal Navy during World War II. Laid down as a Buckley class destroyer escort originally intended for the United States Navy, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under the terms of Lend-Lease before she was finished in 1944, serving in the Royal Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was returned to the U.S. Navy in 1946 and sold for scrapping in 1947.
HMS Dakins (K550) was a Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Built as the Buckley-class destroyer escort DE-85 intended for the United States Navy, she was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1943 under the terms of Lend-Lease.
The second HMS Manners (K568) was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as the United States Navy Evarts-class destroyer escort DE-523, she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.
HNoMS Thorodd was a Royal Norwegian Navy patrol ship and minesweeper that served through the Second World War, first during the Norwegian Campaign that followed the invasion of Norway in 1940, and then from exile in the United Kingdom. Thorodd was originally built as a steam escort trawler for the French Navy under the name Fleurus, before being sold to a Norwegian whaling firm who leased her to the Falkland Islands Government. SS Fleurus served as a commercial mail ship in the Falkland Islands Dependencies during the 1920s, and was the first vessel to carry paying tourists to Antarctica. Following the war, Thorodd was converted to a fishing trawler and sank in 1955.
The PCE-842-class patrol craft were United States Navy patrol craft escorts designed during World War II that were intended for coastal and convoy escort. The design was derived from the 180-foot (55 m) Admirable-class minesweeper as a substitute for the 173-foot (53 m) PC-461-class submarine chasers that were used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) in coastal areas. At 185 feet long and 640 tons, the PCE is more than twice the displacement of the PC and thus and in combination with a less powerful engine also much slower. It has a crew complement of 99 officers and men.
USS PCS-1450, ex-PC-1450, was a United States Navy minesweeper in commission from 1944 to 1946. She saw service in the latter stages of World War II.
ROKS Dangpo was a patrol craft of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). Originally built as USS PCE-842, a PCE-842-class patrol craft for the United States Navy during World War II. Dangpo was acquired by South Korea on 13 December 1961 and sunk by North Korean coastal artillery fire on 19 January 1967.
MV Star of Malta was a passenger ferry which operated routes from Malta to Sicily in the 1950s and 1960s, notable for its sinking off Malta on 29 July 1955, resulting in the death of one crew member and one passenger. Prior to that, she had a long career under a number of different names.
The second USS Cythera (PY-31) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1942 to 1944 and in non-commissioned service from 1944 to 1946. She also served in the Israeli Navy as INS Ma'oz from 1948 to 1956.
United Kingdom
