Cruise liner georgia. white steamer
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In the same year, the ambulance transport was disbanded and returned to the civilian department. During the war years, "Lviv" carried out 35 evacuation flights and delivered 12,431 people to the rear. On the ship 325 times sounded "combat alarm" signals and he evaded attacks from more than 900 enemy aircraft. More than 700 air bombs exploded near its side, more than 300 holes were counted in the hull. 26 torpedoes were fired at the transport, it sank twice. Seventeen crew members were killed and forty-five were injured. After renovation 1946-1947. the ship was again put on the Odessa-Batumi line. In 1950, it was again repaired and in 1952 the ship was transferred to the Odessa-Zhdanov-Sochi line.
On its last voyage, the Lvov left Odessa on October 11, 1964 and passed through all the ports of the Black Sea region, where its routes ran during the war years. Then the ship was handed over to the youngest sailors - the children's flotilla. First, the ship was anchored in Odessa, and then it was transferred to Kherson, where young sailors came to it for more than two decades. The corridors and cabins of the ship were filled with future sailors, mechanics, radio operators, and captains. Many of those who sailed the seas and oceans of the planet or worked on the most powerful shipyards countries, began their lives on the decks of the Lvov ship. The Spanish "internationalist" liner honestly served their second homeland and is worthy of the grateful memory of their descendants.
An unexpected addition to the Black Sea passenger fleet after the war were two former Polish liners. In 1949, the Yagello steam turbine ship arrived from Poland, which was built in 1939 in Germany for Turkey under the name "Dogu", then requisitioned by Germany itself. The vessel received a new name - "Duala". The British, who captured the ship after the war, gave it the name "Empire Ock". The ship took part in military transport until 1946, when it was transferred to the Soviet Union under reparations, which temporarily ceded the steam turbine ship to Poland, where it was given the name "Jagello".
In 1949, the liner was returned to the USSR and received the name "Peter the Great". The ship had a total tonnage of 6261 GRT. The length of the hull of the liner was 125.1 m, width - 16.1 m, draft - 6.63 m. Two steam turbines with low steam pressure allowed the ship to develop a full speed of 15 knots.
"Peter the Great" took on board 610 passengers, but the ship turned out to be shaky, with exhausting pitching, which frightened tourists.
In 1974, the liner was sold for scrap to Spain and towed for disassembly to the port of Castellon.
Another liner that arrived at the Black Sea from Poland was the Sobieski motor ship. The ship was built in 1939 at a shipyard in Newcastle (UK). The total capacity of the liner was 11,030 GRT. Hull length - 155.9 m, width - 20.5 m, draft - 7.72 m. Two Kincaid eight-cylinder diesel engines worked on two propellers and provided a full speed of 16 knots. The ship could take on board 850 passengers. The liner was once specially built to work on the Gdynia (Gdansk) - New York line. During the war, "Sobieski", as a military transport, took part in landing operations from Narvik, Madagascar, Sicily, Salerno, North Africa and Normandy. At the end of the war, the ship was returned in 1946 to the line Gdynia - New York.
In 1950, the Poles handed over the ship to Sovtorgflot (Odessa Black Sea Shipping Company). The boat got a new name "Georgia", and began regular flights on the Crimean-Caucasian line in the Black Sea. The ship served without accident until April 1975, when it was expelled from the Cherno shipping company and sold for scrap to the Italian port of La Spezia.
As pure trophies after the war, some more ships were transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company for reparations from Romania, an ally of Germany. The first real replenishment of the passenger fleet on the Black Sea was a snow-white handsome liner with the name "Ukraine". This ship belonged to royal Romania before the war and even then semi-officially had the nickname "White Swan of the Black Sea". And the liners "Bessarabia" and "Transylvania" were designed in Denmark by the Romanian order in 1934. June 26, 1938. "Transylvania" entered the ranks. Three months later, the construction of "Bessarabia" was completed. It was envisaged that both ships would be used on the line Constanta - Istanbul - Piraeus - Alexandria - Jaffa - Haifa - Beirut - Alexandria - Piraeus - Istanbul - Constanta. But the outbreak of World War II crossed out these plans. Until April 1940, liners transported Polish Jewish refugees from Constanta to Beirut. Twice during the war, both liners almost became targets of Soviet submarines, which took up positions to the Bosphorus. The Romanian government was forced to delay the return of the ships to their homeland and leave them on the roads of Istanbul, until the end of hostilities. Well, then the paths of the ships diverged: "Transylvania" was left to Romania, and "Bessarabia" was transferred to the USSR. Romanian "Transylvania" until the beginning of the 70s carried out Passenger Transportation in the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas, off the coast of North Africa. Sometimes she called in Odessa and a ship from afar could be mistaken for the t / d "Ukraine"
In 1975, at the Wartsila shipyard in the Finnish city of Turku, a new vessel of the Belorussiya car-passenger motor ship was handed over to the customer - Sovcomflot of the USSR. This ship was the lead ship in a series of five ships. Initially, all five ships were transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company of the USSR Ministry of Marine Fleet.
The order was given to the Finnish shipyard for a reason - Wartsila was already known in the USSR, and Finnish shipbuilders had a lot of experience in building ferries. With all the external similarity with the large car-passenger ferries that plied in the Baltic basin, the new ships cannot be called ferries in the usual sense. The ships had only one car deck and were nevertheless intended to transport passengers in the first place, and then cars between ports. Black Sea coast THE USSR.
m/v "Belarus" leaves the port of Valletta, 1975
"Belarus" leaving Southampton, 1987
The red stripe on the false pipe with the Soviet coat of arms, the port of registry Odessa - this was "Belarus" in the second half of the 80s. Pictured - June 1988, Fremantle
m/v "Belarus", 1992. in tow across the English Channel (English Channel) under tow SMIT ROTTERDAM
In 1993, after repairs in the dry dock of Singapore, the ship will be renamed Kazakhstan II, and then, in 1996, DELPHIN.
Already under the name of Kazakhstan II, Durban, 1994.
This is how it is nowadays - DELPHIN:
on the way to Kiel harbor (Kiel, Germany)
Then, in 1975, the ship "Georgia" was put into operation. He was also transferred to the CHMP.
"Georgia" in Southampton, 1976
in Sochi, 1983
Southampton, November 1983
Istanbul, 1991
still "Georgia", 1992, Quebec, Canada. The ship was chartered for cruises on the St. Lawrence River.
the coat of arms of the USSR changed to a Ukrainian trident, the name - to Odessa Sky, St. Lawrence River, Canada, August 1995
In 1999, the ship sailed under the name Club I. The picture was taken in the North Sea
Soon the ship was renamed again - Club Cruise I. It is assumed that this renaming took place in the same 1999 - the ship changed owners. Then in 1999 the ship was renamed again - Van Gogh - after the famous Dutch painter. Under this name, the ship passed until 2009. In 2009, it is renamed again - SALAMIS FILOXENIA. The ship is still operating under this name.
Port of Caen, 2004
off the coast of Norway, 2007
Kiel Canal, 2008
Port of Split, Croatia, 2008
SALAMIS FILOXENIA at anchor off Patmos, July 2010
If we conditionally divide the ships into series according to the year of construction, then the ship "Azerbaijan" is the last ship of the first series - like "Belarus" and "Georgia" it was built in 1975 and became the third ship of the "Belarus" type. In 1996, the ship received a new name - Arcadia (when you look for her pictures on various sites - at least one more ship that has no relation to our fleet - New Australia or Monarch of Bermuda) is recalled to Ardkadia. In 1997, a new renaming - Island Holyday, under this name the ship operates until 1998. From 1998 to the present - ENCHANTED CAPRI.
The photo was taken before the collapse of the USSR, but it is not yet possible to establish the exact year.
Port of Fremantle, first half of the 90s
Southampton, 1992
"Azerbaijan" in Genoa, late 70s. By the way, there is a photo of the ship "Ivan Franko" taken on the same pier. Just a few from a different angle.
1998, the name is already Island Holiday
photo 1996-1997
In 1976, the USSR Ministry of Marine Fleet commissioned two more vessels of the series - Kazakhstan and Karelia.
Motor ship "Kazakhstan" was renamed in 1996 - ROYAL SEAS, and in 1997 - "Ukraine". It is for this reason that "Belarus" was called "Kazakhstan II". In 1998, the ship changed its owner, flag and name - ISLAND ADVENTURE. Under this name, the ship operates to this day. Although in what capacity - it is difficult to say. It is known that in 2007 it worked in Miami Beach as a floating casino.
"Kazakhstan" in Greece, Mykonos, May 1983
"Ukraine" leaves Fort Lauderdale, 1998
ISLAND ADVENTURE, photo 1998, location - Fort Lauderdale
Miami Beach, 2007
The last ship of the series was "Karelia". She is currently based in Hong Kong.
"Karelia" was put into operation in 1976, in 1982 the first renaming - the ship receives the name of the recently deceased General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L. I. Brezhnev. In 1989, when restructuring was in full swing in the country, the ship was renamed again - it was returned to its original name. In 1998, the ship passes under the Liberian flag and changes its name to OLVIA, then a series of resales and renaming follows - 2004 - NEPTUNE, 2005 - CT NEPTUNE, 2006 - NEPTUNE.
December 1983
"Leonid Brezhnev" in the Kiel Canal, 1985
"Leonid Brezhnev" in the port of Tilbury, 1987
port of Tilbury, 1989
"Karelia" in the first half of the 90s
OLVIA in 2004, Elbe mouth
Neptun in 2007, Hong Kong
Hong Kong, March 2010
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Photos of ships - www.shipspotting.com, www.faktaomfartyg.se
Information on renaming - www.faktaomfartyg.se
On September 12, 1941, the advanced units of the 11th German Army approached Perekop, the northern border of Crimea. From that moment on, it became possible to escape from the peninsula only by sea.
All land routes were quickly taken under control by German troops. About a million civilians were trapped. The scattered troops of the Red Army opposed the German trained troops, which did not give a great chance of victory.
By the beginning of November 1941, the flight of the inhabitants of the Crimean peninsula took on a massive character. With the approach of fascist troops, panic began in the cities. There was a real struggle for landing on any transport. The evacuation of the civilian population was carried out according to a single scheme from Sevastopol and Yalta to Tuapse in the Caucasus.
Motor ship « Armenia"moored in early November 1941 in the port of Sevastopol was the best suited for this purpose.
Motor ship « Armenia"was built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in November 1928 and belonged to the type passenger ships « Abkhazia ". In total, four ships of the same type were built: Abkhazia», « Georgia», « Crimea" and " Armenia» for the Black Sea Shipping Company. Motor ship « Armenia"has successfully made flights to the Caucasus, carrying more than 10,000 people a year.
motor ship "Armenia" photo
construction of the ship "Armenia"
ship "Abkhazia"
ship "Georgia"
August 8, 1941 two-deck cargo-passenger ship for the period of hostilities it was converted into. Passenger cabins became medical wards, and special symbols appeared on the sides - the Red Cross.
On the morning of November 6, 1941, landing began on ship « Armenia". At first vessel was not moored to the pier, in order to avoid a crush and a possible assault, passengers were brought on board in boats. Suddenly, an order was received from the headquarters of the Sevastopol defensive region to evacuate all medical personnel of the Black Sea Fleet from the city. As a result, the best doctors of the Crimea ended up on the same ship. To fulfill the order, Captain Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky had to ship « Armenia moored to the pier of Korabelnaya Bay, and huge crowds of city residents seeking salvation immediately poured in here. Everyone wanted to get on the ship. In a panic, the passengers began to make their way into the technical rooms at the most lower decks. The ship with the evacuees was overfilled. People stood tightly pressed to each other, but this was the only chance for salvation.
Crowded with frightened people at 17:00 on November 6, 1941, the ship "Armenia" unmoored from the quay wall and soon disappeared over the horizon and disappeared not only from the view of the mourners, but also from Soviet history.
The Sevastopol residents who were seeing them off had a feeling of despair because they did not use their chance. But this would become a reality if it took a course on the established Caucasian route.
From Sevastopol ship « Armenia” took away the medical personnel of the Black Sea Fleet, hundreds of seriously wounded soldiers and thousands of civilians. The war at sea had not yet begun, so the road was every minute. The Caucasus was free and nothing prevented people from saving. But Captain Plaushevsky received an order from the High Command of the Black Sea Fleet to go to Yalta and pick up a few more passengers.
At 02:00 November 7 ship « Armenia"Arrived at the port of Yalta. During this transition, the medical ship was delayed for 3 hours, waiting on the roadstead of Balaklava for transport with some cargo to be delivered on board. After loading several tightly sealed black boxes into the ship, Armenia” weighed anchor and continued its voyage. Escorting NKVD agents remained on board to ensure the protection of the cargo.
In Yalta on a crowded ship « Armenia Hundreds more frightened people plunged in. Only at 08:00 on November 7, 1941, the medical ship was able to leave and head for Tuapse, losing valuable time. Meanwhile, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Oktyabrsky, gave the order not to leave the port until dark, that is, 19:00, but Captain Plaushevsky violated it. Just 10 km from Yalta in Gurzuf, the Nazi troops were already rampaging. The captain made the most important decision in his life, and he gave the order to save the doctors entrusted to him, but it was too late.
Departing at a distance of about 25 miles from the Crimean peninsula " Armenia"was attacked by two torpedoes from a German bomber of the He-111H type, which ignored the identification marks. At 11:29 a.m., a ship with 7,000 medical personnel and civilians sank in the Black Sea at a depth of 472 meters. In a terrible tragedy, only 8 passengers on the boat managed to escape.
This huge number of deaths on one ship seems incredible, but even more surprising is the fact that in our time no one knows about one of the most horrific maritime disasters in the history of the Second World War. After all, on board ship « Armenia"More people died than on the legendary liners" "" and "".
Information about this tragedy was kept in the strictest confidence. Recently, Ukrainian historians managed to discover these details. The cause of the death of the ship was two unplanned stops, which led to the loss of time. The command of the Black Sea Fleet issued an order that made a number of mistakes, and yet the doctors of the dead ship could save thousands of lives of soldiers and officers who fought against Nazi Germany.
And only one person, Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky, took responsibility for the unacceptable mistakes of his leadership. Having violated the order, he took the last opportunity to save people, which was already impossible to prevent.
On May 9, 2010, several veterans of the Great Patriotic War will lay wreaths in the area where the tragedy allegedly occurred.
Technical data of the passenger ship "Armenia":
Length - 112.1 m;
Width - 15.5 m;
Board height - 7.7 m;
Displacement - 5770 tons;
The power plant is two diesel engines with a capacity of 4000 liters. with.;
Speed - 14.5 knots;
Number of passengers - up to 980 people;
Crew - 96 people;
A poem by Vladimir Vysotsky to Anatoly Garagula. We bring to your attention another poem by Vladimir Vysotsky - “Well, that's all! The deep sleep is over!”
That's it! The deep sleep is over!
Nobody and nothing is allowed!
I'm leaving, separate, lonely
On the airfield from which they take off!
I will visit the surface abode,
What other people call the ship.
My captain, my friend and my savior!
Come on, let's forget something!
Let's forget something - I need, I can!
Everything - a woman with whom they are familiar!
Remembering everything is simply impossible.
Yes, it's simple and unnecessary - what are we?
1969
Interesting Facts:
Garagulya Anatoly Grigoryevich (1922-2004) - sea captain, participant in the Great Patriotic War. It is interesting that Anatoly Grigoryevich fought in the sky - he was a pilot, and after the war he decided to conquer the water element - he entered and graduated from the Odessa Higher Nautical School. Since 1965 - the captain of the ship "Georgia", and after its decommissioning since 1975 - the captain of a new ship with the same name (although the new ship did not have the personality and luxury of its predecessor, which caused the captain's displeasure).
Anatoly Garagulya was friends with famous cultural figures who traveled on the ship "Georgia", which cruised the Black Sea. Among them are Vladimir Vysotsky, Marina Vladi, Vasily Aksenov, Konstantin Vanshenkin, Bulat Okudzhava, Pyotr Todorovsky and others.
Vysotsky and Vlady rested their souls on the ship, hiding from prying eyes. The couple stayed in a spacious cabin, ate in the captain's private dining room. Here is how the ship is described in the memoirs of Marina Vladi: “Cabins and saloons are of extraordinary luxury. "Georgia" is richly decorated with carpets, chasing and painting ... Tolya arranged everything wonderfully: the cabin is lined with flowers, on the table are fruits, pies and a bottle of Georgian wine. We don’t know where to start ... ”There are many photographs in which Vysotsky and Vlady are captured together with Anatoly Garagulya on the captain’s bridge of the ship. During the cruise on the "Georgia" Vysotsky wrote many wonderful poems.
Anatoly Garagulya acted in films - he played the captain of the ship "Gloria" in the film "Crown Russian Empire, or Elusive again” in 1970. Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated poems to Anatoly Garagula, of which the most famous is “Man overboard”.
There are still legends and myths about the death of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. They say that there is little truth in them, but it is still there.
"Jean Zhores" threatens Feodosia?
Among the inhabitants of Feodosia, the legend about the transport "Jean Zhores" is popular: "During the Second World War, a ship with huge amount explosives on board. Since then, the ship has been lying on the sandy bottom, just a few tens of meters from the paratroopers embankment. He lies and looks with an eye-hole at the eating, drinking, walking townspeople. And when the list of sins of the 2500-year-old city is full, "Jean Jaurès" will fly into the air. The famous Halifax disaster will repeat itself, when during the First World War an explosive transport with ammunition, in fact, destroyed a large Canadian city". It is clear that there is little truth in this legend. And now - how it really was ...In fact, the ship, 112 meters long, sank on January 17, 1942 and is located at the bottom of the Feodosia Bay, eight hundred meters from the city embankment. The ship itself was built at the end of 1931 and named after the leader of the French Socialist Party, Jean Jaurès. In 1942, the ship provided the Kerch-Feodosia landing operation. On the night of January 15-16, 7 artillery pieces, 6 fuel tanks, 4 trucks and several special vehicles were unloaded from the Jean Zhores.
Unloading was not completed. As dawn approached, the ship, fearing a threat from the air, went out to sea. With the onset of darkness, it lay back on its course. The storm, as well as the lack of navigation lights on the coast, caused by the needs of blackout, made maneuvering difficult. "Jean Zhores" was blown up by a mine, possibly a Soviet one. The crew competently fought for the survivability of the ship, and for two hours it remained afloat. Then the command, in order not to risk the lives of people, gave the order to leave the "Jean", and he soon sank. In the post-war period, the ship was subjected to examination by divers. Artillery guns and rifle cartridges were found on board the ship. As for the shells, they are reported: "Ammunition was not found." This, of course, does not necessarily mean that he is not on board. According to experts, it was the suspicion of the presence of dangerous cargo on the sunken transport that led to the final decision taken in the 1970s to refuse to lift it.
Chemical "Georgia"
The Jean Zhores is far from the only ship that sank off the coast of Crimea with a significant amount of ammunition on board. And by no means always these ammunition are ordinary ...The history of the ship "Georgia" is full of gloomy mysteries. The ship was built in 1928 in Germany, at the Krupa shipyard, in the city of Kiel. June 11, 1942 at 21.45 "Georgia", accompanied by the base minesweeper "Shield" and 5 patrol boats, left Novorossiysk for Sevastopol. According to official figures, there were 708 marching reinforcements and 526 tons of ammunition on board, and according to unofficial data - 4,000 people and 1,300 tons of ammunition.
On the evening of June 12, when the convoy was 45 miles south of the cape Aya, the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. From 20.30 to 21.35 about 150 bombs and 8 torpedoes were dropped on it. There were no direct hits, but two land mines exploded 8-10 meters from the stern of the "Georgia", and the third exploded 50 meters from the port side. Nevertheless, the minesweepers towed the ship to Sevastopol, where on the approach to the Mine pier at 4.48 am on June 13, it was again attacked by 5 aircraft. One of the bombs hit the aft hold with ammunition. At 4.55 there was a detonation. The hull of the ship was torn in half by the force of the explosion. The aft part of the hull quickly sank with a roll to starboard, and after 8 minutes the bow went to the bottom. Nearly everyone on board perished. Only a few shell-shocked people were able to pick up sailors of rescue boats in the water ...
A thorough diving study of the sunken transport was carried out after the liberation of Sevastopol from the Germans in 1945. The work was carried out by the 21st rescue squad of the Black Sea Fleet - 21st ASO of the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Captain 1st Rank N.T. Rybalko. The calculations were made by Major Engineer K. A. Tsybin. The stern was raised first. She was towed to the Cossack Bay and flooded there in a shallow place. The bow part was raised in February - November 1949. It was also flooded in Kazachya Bay at a depth of about 21 m. However, the story did not end there ...
The fact is that next to the bay was the Khersones airfield, which then served as a government airfield. The dangerous neighborhood with a flooded transport, from which the ammunition was not completely unloaded, did not suit the security service. A categorical order was received to investigate and raise the wreckage of the "Georgia". The divers descended and drew up an inspection report. The act noted the presence of shells in the holds of the ship.
In the period from December 18 to 20, 1956, parts of the Georgia corps were again examined by divers. A surprise was the presence of artillery shells with toxic substances such as mustard gas and lewisite and chemical bombs of various calibers. The very same work on the rise of "Georgia" began only in 1959. The ship was taken away from the government airfield and flooded there.
It seems that in June 1942 the Soviet command intended to use chemicals against the Germans attacking Sevastopol, and only the success of the Luftwaffe pilots, who sent the transport to the bottom, prevented such a turn of events.
"Makarov", aka "Schmidt"
It is possible that the gloomy secret of the icebreaker “S. Makarov. This is an English-built ship, originally called "Prince Pozharsky". It arrived from the UK in Arkhangelsk in February 1917. In May 1920, the icebreaker received a new name, which mystically predetermined its fate - "Lieutenant Schmidt" and was converted into an auxiliary cruiser. Then the Schmidt was disarmed, returned to its original status, renamed in honor of the great naval commander, and in 1926 transferred to Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov.The last time the icebreaker was seen was on November 17, 1941 in Tuapse. From there, he was supposed to follow to Sevastopol, where fierce battles were already going on, but he did not arrive at the port of destination. Four days later, the then commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Philip Sergeevich Oktyabrsky (Ivanov), wrote in his diary: “But there is no data on the icebreaker“ S. Makarov "..." The search began, ending to no avail on November 26th. The icebreaker disappeared without a trace. One of the versions put forward during the investigation of the incident was the betrayal of a part of the team who wished to go over to the side of the enemy. Allegedly, in accordance with the traditions of pirate novels, Captain Chertkov was killed and thrown overboard. The ship with the crew of the rebels, according to a number of witnesses, sailed under the German flag along the route Constanta - Odessa.
There was, however, another version. It was formulated by the well-known German naval historian J. Meister in his book “Soviet ships in the Second World War”, published in London in 1977. According to the author, the Makarov, with a rebellious crew on board, tried to go over to the side of the enemy, but couldn't. The alerted Soviet military aviation destroyed the ship and everyone on it in January 1942 near Cape Tarkhankut, near western coasts peninsulas of Crimea.
And in 2005, his version of solving the mystery of the icebreaker “S. Makarov" suggested the well-known Russian military historian Alexander Shirokorad. He claims the following: in fact, on November 17, Makarov did not leave Tuapse for Sevastopol, but vice versa. However, before leaving, for the purpose of secrecy, for the transition period, he was given a different name - "Kerch". This was most likely due to the fact that the ship was carrying a secret cargo, presumably chemical munitions. Only the initiates knew about the renaming. In violation of the order - merchant ships pass through the fairway only during the day - the icebreaker sailed at night. And at the beginning of the war, fearing a breakthrough by the Italian fleet, Soviet admirals literally stuffed the Black Sea with minefields. There was an explosion not far from Cape Fiolent. Radio operators of the Sevastopol water area protection (OVR) received a radiogram: “Icebreaker Kerch. Hit a mine. Tonu. Send out the boats!" Since the OVR command was not informed about the renaming, it mistook the message for a trick by the Germans who had captured Soviet ciphers. No boats, of course, were sent anywhere. The ship with all the crew and a load of poisonous substances sank to the bottom, where it remains to this day, in the immediate vicinity of the resorts of the South Coast. Of course, Shirokorad's version has every right to exist. However, this is just a version, and not the ultimate truth. The hypothesis of a riot on board has no less degree of certainty. In the end, you can construct a model for the development of events. For example, games with the renaming of the vessel can be explained not by the desire to hide the poisonous cargo, but by the attempt of the Soviet secret services to hide the fact of the rebellion. In addition, it is unlikely that the fleet commander Oktyabrsky did not know about the renaming of the ship, because his diary was not intended for publication, and the admiral did not need to lie.
The "Memory of Mercury" has a bad fate
Another riot allegedly took place aboard the cruiser Comintern. The ship has a very turbulent history. In 1905 it became part of the Black Sea Fleet as a cruiser under the name "Memory of Mercury". By the way, according to a long tradition, there should always be a ship with that name on the Black Sea, and the death of the ship of the same name in the winter of 2001, which belonged to one of the Simferopol firms, is symptomatic. (Then, as a result of a disaster that occurred off the southern coast of Crimea, 20 people died. The ship, which was flying Istanbul - Evpatoria, carrying 52 people and several hundred tons of cargo, sank in neutral waters 150 km from Sevastopol.)However, on March 25, 1907, "Memory ..." became "Kahul". In 1913 - 1914. she underwent a major overhaul, participated in the First World War, and on December 16, 1917, she went over to the side of the Soviet authorities, then passed from hand to hand: the Germans, the Entente, the Whites - and became completely unusable. The Soviet government restored "Cahul" for a long time, about three years (1921 - 1923). In the midst of work (1922), a decision came up to rename the ship to the Comintern. It entered service as a training cruiser. With the outbreak of hostilities in 1941, the Comintern was reorganized into a minelayer. The crew consisted of 490 people.
Reference books speak evasively about the participation of the "Comintern" in the Great Patriotic War: "the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, carried out military transportation." Of course, you will not find a word about a riot on the ship there. However, the rumor about this event is stable. He passes from one generation of sailors and seascape writers to another. One of the journalists writing about the fleet several years ago turned to the author of these lines with a request to consult with law enforcement officers regarding the presence of materials about the incident in the archive of the SBU headquarters in Simferopol. Law enforcement officers said that, of course, the rebellion of almost 60 years ago no longer belongs to the category of our X-files. However, in order to find the right folder, you need to know either the name of the accused or the investigator who conducted the criminal case. Of course, a mutiny in the navy in a country at war could not have had a "press" in any way. Therefore, the names and surnames of the newly-minted "lieutenants of the Schmidts" remained unknown to the general public. Of course, the “knights of the cloak and dagger” who struck down the “hydra of the counter-revolution” on a ship with such a glorious name were not advertised, of course. And so it remains to this day "the second battleship Potemkin" one of the many secrets of the Black Sea Fleet.
