Cruise ship Georgia. Odessa had its own passenger flotilla

Today is about the white ship.
It is a rare person who does not smile dreamily when he sees on the horizon the swift silhouette of a large passenger ship gliding in ultramarine. There is a delicious and carefree life, there is a fresh wind of travel and pleasant acquaintances, everything is good there by definition. A universal symbol of hope for a better future. This is how the hero of today's story remains for thousands of people, different time looking at the horizon line from its deck.

The ship, which will be discussed below, not only moved in space, connecting continents, but also left many traces in history, having witnessed many significant events in the “roaring” 1940s. Like any interesting hero, our character had two lives: one was a mature Black Sea Soviet life, the other, like many of our post-war cruise ships, was a foreign military ocean youth. Polish-Danish parents, breaking a traditional bottle of champagne on the side of the built ship, could not even imagine what trials their brainchild, solemnly named MS Sobieski, would have to go through.

SECOND LIFE

Motor ship "Georgia". Stills from the film "The Crown of the Russian Empire" (1971)

Let's start with the ending. In 1971, the continuation of the super-blockbuster of Soviet children “The Elusive Avengers” entitled “The Crown of the Russian Empire” was released on the screens of the country. The denouement of the film's twisted plot took place on board the snow-white liner "Gloria" in the Black Sea. His role was played by the Soviet cruise ship Georgia. In the 1950-70s, the liner performed regular flights on the Crimean-Caucasian line in the Black Sea.
Among its passengers was Vladimir Vysotsky. He loved very much sea ​​cruises, annually sailed on the motor ships “Adjara”, “Shota Rustaveli” and “Georgia”, which plied the Odessa-Batumi route with a call at Sukhumi.

Romantic idyll on board the liner

YOUTH

The motor ship that became "Georgia" arrived in 1950 on the Black Sea from Poland, where it bore the name of the Polish "our everything" John III Sobieski, the medieval ruler of Poland, under whom the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced its renaissance. Sobieski was built before the war in June 1939 by the British shipyard Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson in the Newcastle suburb of Wallsend. The total capacity of the liner was 11,030 GRT. Hull length - 155.9 m, width - 20.5 m, draft - 7.72 m. The ship could carry 850 passengers.

The ship was ordered by the Polish-Danish shipping company Gdynia-Ameryka Linie Żeglugowe SA and was intended for the then most profitable voyages to New World. Airplanes did not yet fly across the ocean and it was possible to get to America and back only on specially built ships of various shipping companies.
Polish ships entered the transatlantic routes in 1930 and their appearance was accompanied by the following texts in the local press:

"The creation of a transatlantic connection is extremely important. On the one hand, our young shipping industry shows the flag on the leading routes of the world, on the other hand, this is the first step towards breaking with indifference to the dominance of foreign shipping companies, primarily German ones. From Poland overseas one of the largest contingents of European immigrants is leaving. Until now, the very impressive proceeds from the transportation have gone entirely into foreign pockets. Considering that more than 60,000 immigrants left Poland last year, foreign companies earned about $6 million from this. This is only the fee for transporting emigrants, excluding those who arrived back."

The first voyage of MS Sobieski took place on June 15, 1939 from Gdynia to Brazil and Argentina. This destination was popular among emigrants from Europe during the interwar period. In their memories they note comfort and sophistication internal device vessels and the presence of a kosher kitchen. But all this did not last long.

WAR
After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the ship escaped German captivity and ended up with the British, where it was mobilized for military service. As a military transport, the Sobieski took part in many significant events of the war at sea, the mention of which will warm the soul of a lover of maritime history.

NORWAY 1940


Members of the 1/6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), 147 Brigade, 61st Division talking with officers of the Polish steamer MS Sobieski en route to Norway, 20 April 1940.

They are playing on the deck on board the MS Sobieski liner

In May-June 1940, evacuates Allied forces from Narvik (Norway) during Operation Alphabet.

FRANCE 1940
At the end of July 1940, Allied troops were evacuated from Western France (Operation Aerial).

Polish interned soldiers from a camp near Toulouse, who were evacuated, including on board the MS Sobieski, during one of the voyages to Britain from Western France. June 1940 A total of 25,000 Poles escaped

General de Gaulle with Churchill's representative General Spears on his way to Dakar in September 1940.

WEST AFRICA 1940
Already in September 1940, the ship took part in the Battle of Dakar (Operation Menace) - unsuccessful attempt allies to recapture the strategically important Atlantic port of Dakar in French West Africa(now Senegal) from the Vichys. 8,000 paratroopers took part in the operation. The negative result on land, the failure of the battleship HMS Resolution, lowered de Gaulle's authority in the eyes of the British for a long time.

MS Sobieski, Atlantic Ocean, Sierra Leone, Freetown - base of the British fleet in West Africa. 1940.

VALUABLE CARGO 1940

Later in the same July 1940, the convoy transported about a thousand captured Germans and Italians, as well as some Polish valuables to Canada. Among the valuables were: Szczerbiec - the coronation sword of the Polish kings, the Gutenberg Bible, 136 huge tapestries from the 16th century, from the time of King Sigismund from the collection of Wawel Castle in Krakow, 36 Chopin manuscripts, as well as gold bars worth several hundred million dollars from the Bank of England. In this regard, the presence of prisoners on board seems to indicate a “human shield”, do I understand correctly?
MS Sobieski is sailing as part of an impressive Royal Navy convoy at the head of the battleship HMS Revenge under the command of Admiral Sir Ernest Russell Archer, who would later become senior naval officer in Northern Russia (from 1943) and then head of the Joint Services Mission in Moscow (from 1944). ).
Upon the ship's arrival in Halifax on July 13, 1940, the valuables departed for Ottawa.
Immediately after this, MS Sobieski returned to Britain as part of a convoy and brought 8,077 Canadian troops.

Drawing of a soldier from the 18th Division en route to Halifax on the Sobieski in late October 1941.

1941
On October 30, the ship sails from the British fleet base in Scotland to Halifax as part of convoy CT.5. On board were British troops who would then depart from Halifax for Africa as part of the first American convoy, WS-12x. The convoy arrived in Cape Town on December 8, 1941. Two days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

SINGAPORE 1942


Liberated from Japan's notorious Changi camp, Allied troops arrived in port on hospital ships. 1945

In February, the Battle of Singapore with the Japanese begins. Sobieski is mentioned in connection with the transport to the theater of war of the British 18th Infantry Division, which arrived a few weeks before the final, managed to fight only a short time, after which it was captured by the Japanese.
Sobieski would return for them at the end of the war and take them home from Britain's notorious Changi camp. Traveling home aboard the liner, Briton James Bradley writes a book, Towards the Setting Sun: An Escape from the Thailand-Burma Railway, 1943, about his escape from terrible Japanese captivity in the jungle. There, more than 100,000 Allied prisoners died during the construction of the railway.

Landing in Madagascar. Operation Ironclad. In the background are transports.

MADAGASCAR 1942
In 1942, the ship took part in Operation Ironclad, which Churchill later called “the only episode that became an example of good and skillful leadership of the war.” From May 5 to November 6, 1942, with the support of a large naval force, about 15 thousand Allied soldiers from Britain, the Union of South Africa, India, Australia, Tanganyika, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, as well as from the Dutch Volunteer Corps landed on Madagascar.

British naval squadron on Diego Suarez, Madagascar after the French surrender. 1942 MS Sobieski - one of the squadron transports

Their goal was to prevent the island from being captured by Japan. Here, for the first time, revolutionary for that time means and methods of landing amphibious assault on an unequipped coast were used (landing armored vehicles on the shore, supporting the landing by aircraft carriers, etc.). Subsequently, the experience of this operation was used in one way or another in the development of all subsequent Allied amphibious assaults, including the landing in Normandy in 1944. It is worth noting that de Gaulle’s forces were not used after the failure in Dakar. The British this time chose to do without them.
I wonder if we count the ships lost by France during WW2, who sank them the most? I wouldn't be surprised if they're English :)

Signing of the surrender by the Vichy French aboard the British HMS Ramillies. Captain Howson, Chief of Staff to Rear Admiral Syfret with Colonel Claerbout, the Officer Commanding Diego Suarez

The Allies were opposed by the forces of Vichy France, represented mainly by colonial troops. Interestingly, 15 thousand tons of fuel for the operation were delivered from Port Said to the ports South Africa two Soviet tankers - Sakhalin and Tuapse. They were “on the way” to help the allies during the round-the-world passage of a group of Soviet ships led by the icebreaker Mikoyan.
As for the Sobieski transport itself, after the surrender of the island’s garrisons, the British diligently trawled the coastal waters and were the first to let Sobieski into the mine-cleared port area, and only then did the main landing forces enter there. In Poland they are very proud of this fact. Skeptics smile knowingly, suspecting the British of practicality.
Further, for some reason, the description of the active life of the ship ends and the ship appears only in the lists of various Allied convoys.

1943
In 1943, Sobieski is found in the list of the Allied convoy WS 28, traveling along the African route Freetown-Cape Town-Aden.

1944
In 1944, the name of the ship appears in the convoy that left Southampton for France on December 25, 1944. The Sobieski was carrying the 201st General Hospital. The date can be associated with the beginning of the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes on December 16, 1944.

AFTER THE WAR 1946-1950
At the end of the global carnage, MS Sobieski sails under the Polish flag on the route Genoa-New York and Naples-Halifax. But the old days are gone forever - the era of flights across the ocean began passenger aviation. In February 1950, Sobieski made his last 29th North Atlantic voyage. After which it was sold to the USSR.

Safety drills on board MS Sobieski during a voyage with Armenian repatriates

Postcard from the ship, sent by one of the repatriates from Gibraltar

During this time, the ship “floats up” in an interesting episode. In 1947, a group of American Armenians decided to return to Armenia. 162 people sailed on the Sobieski in January 1949 from the United States to Italy, where in Naples they boarded a Romanian ship that was heading to Batumi. The settlers noted in their memoirs that they were disappointed when the rich interiors of the Polish liner were replaced by the harsh compartments of the Romanian transport - “a squat, ugly-looking cargo ship without any special accommodation for passengers.”

So, in general, this is how the happy fate of the Polish pre-war ship from American lines turned out, which witnessed the famous military operations of the Allies at sea, carried the lucky ones on Soviet Black Sea cruises for 20 years and went on its last voyage for cutting in the late 1970s .

A Polish video in which footage from the film “The Crown of the Russian Empire” is disguised as a chronicle of the alleged arrival of MS Sobieski in America! This is how fake stories are born :)

The fate of the troika passenger ships German shipping company "Seedienst Ostpreussen": "Tannenberg", "Hansestadt Danzig" and "Preussen" in the whirlwind of historical events of the 1930-40s.

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In the same year, the ambulance transport was disbanded and returned to the civilian department. During the war years, "Lvov" carried out 35 evacuation flights and delivered 12,431 people to the rear. The ship sounded the "combat alarm" 325 times and evaded attacks from more than 900 enemy aircraft. More than 700 aerial bombs exploded near its side, and more than 300 holes were found in the hull. 26 torpedoes were fired at the transport, and it sank twice. Seventeen crew members were killed and forty-five were wounded. After repairs in 1946-1947. The ship was again put on the Odessa-Batumi line. In 1950, there was another repair and in 1952 the ship was transferred to the Odessa-Zhdanov-Sochi line.

In your last flight"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. Then the ship was handed over to the youngest sailors - the children's flotilla. At 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 at the country’s most powerful shipbuilding factories began their lives on the decks of the Lvov motor ship. The Spanish “internationalist” liner served its second homeland honorably and is worthy of the grateful memory of its descendants.

An unexpected addition to the Black Sea passenger fleet after the war were two former Polish liners. In 1949, the steam turbine ship "Jagiello" arrived from Poland, which was built in 1939 in Germany for Turkey under the name "Dogu", then requisitioned by Germany itself. The ship 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 for reparations, which temporarily transferred the steam turbine ship to Poland, where it was given the name "Jagiello".

In 1949, the liner was returned to the USSR and received the name "Peter the Great". The vessel had a total capacity of 6,261 GRT. The length of the liner's hull was 125.1 m, width - 16.1 m, draft - 6.63 m. Two steam turbines with low steam pressure allowed the ship to reach a full speed of 15 knots.

"Peter the Great" carried 610 passengers, but the ship turned out to be shaky, with debilitating rocking, which frightened tourists.

In 1974, the liner was sold for scrap to Spain and towed to the port of Castellon for dismantling.

Another liner that arrived on 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 eight-cylinder Kinkaid diesel engines drove two propellers and provided a full speed of 16 knots. The ship could carry 850 passengers. The liner at one time was specially built to operate on the Gdynia (Gdansk) - New York line. During the war, Sobieski, as a military transport, took part in landing operations near Narvik, Madagascar, Sicily, Salerno, North Africa and Normandy. At the end of the war, the ship was returned in 1946 to the Gdynia - New York line.

In 1950, the Poles handed over the ship to Sovtorgflot (Odessa Black Sea Shipping Company). The ship received a new name "Georgia", and began regular flights on the Crimean-Caucasian line in the Black Sea. The ship served without accidents until April 1975, when it was excluded from the Black Sea Shipping Company and sold for scrapping in the Italian port of La Spezia.

As clean 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 addition to the passenger fleet on the Black Sea was a beautiful snow-white liner named “Ukraine”. Before the war this ship belonged to royal Romania and even then he semi-officially had the nickname “White Swan of the Black Sea”. And the liners "Bessarabia" and "Transylvania" were designed in Denmark according to a Romanian order in 1934. June 26, 1938. "Transylvania" entered service. 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 the Second World War dashed these plans. Until April 1940, the liners transported Polish Jewish refugees from Constanta to Beirut. Twice during the war, both liners almost became targets of Soviet submarines that were moving to positions in the Bosphorus. The Romanian government was forced to delay the return of the ships to their homeland and leave them in the roadstead of Istanbul until the end of hostilities. Well, then the ships parted ways: “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 at Odessa and the ship from afar could be mistaken for the m/d "Ukraine"

Honored Transport Worker. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle (1947), the Red Banner of Labor (1960), the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (1985), and the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1999); medals “For Courage” and “For Defense of the Soviet Arctic”.

Anatoly Garagulya was born in the village of Kazanskaya Krasnodar region in the family of switchman Grigory Mikhailovich Garaguli. His mother Antonina Alekseevna Garagulya (Nekrasova) was a housewife.

After graduating from school in Stavropol in 1940, he entered the Melitopol Military Aviation School. A year later, the Great Patriotic War began, and in October 1942, after graduating from college, he was sent to the front. Having gone through the entire war as an air gunner and navigator, he was only transferred to the reserve in March 1946 with the rank of lieutenant. In the same year he comes to Odessa and enters the Higher Naval Engineering School at the navigation department, which he graduates in 1952.

From that time on, his work began at the Black Sea Shipping Company - first as an assistant captain, and then as a captain. The crews of the ships “Krasnodar” and “Karl Marx”, “Timiryazev” and “Admiral Ushakov”, “Admiral Nakhimov” and “Fizik Vavilov” worked under his command.

In 1965, Anatoly Garagulya was appointed captain of the passenger ship “Gruzia” (formerly called “Sobieski”) built in 1939. He worked for ten years on the “Georgia”, until the ship was decommissioned, and in 1975 he became the captain of a new ship under the same name, built in the same year.

motor ship “Georgia”

It is with the motor ship “Georgia” and its captain Anatoly Garaguley that a bright page in history is connected cultural life our city. Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vladi, Vasily Aksenov and Bulat Okudzhava, Pyotr Todorovsky and Vladimir Ivashov are just some of the names of the most famous writers, actors and directors with whom Anatoly Garagulya was familiar and friends. Many of them traveled on both the old and new “Georgia” on the Crimean-Caucasian cruises that were popular at that time. “Georgia” did not go along this route often; most of the time the ship made round the world travel, in which, naturally, Soviet citizens did not participate. Perhaps that is why in those rare cases when the ship made domestic flights along the Black Sea, sometimes a whole company of the captain’s friends would gather there. Thus, one of the photographs shows Anatoly Garagulya, Konstantin Vanshenkin, Bulat Okudzhava and Vasily Aksenov. Researchers of the work of Vladimir Vysotsky are aware of photographs in which he and Marina Vladi were taken on the captain’s bridge of the “Georgia”. And if you look into the captain’s personal library, you can see many books with autographs of writers who traveled on the Georgian.

Marina Vladi, Anatoly Garagulya and Vladimir Vysotsky

In 1970, Anatoly Garagulya starred in the film “Crown Russian Empire, or the Elusive Ones Again” in the role of the captain of the ship “Gloria”.

still from the film “The Crown of the Russian Empire, or the Elusive Ones Again”

But in addition to cruises, Georgia also made other voyages. So, during the Caribbean conflict, the ship transported Soviet soldiers to the island of Cuba, and Captain Garagul met there with Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, who was a minister in the Cuban government. There were several such meetings, both in Cuba and here in Odessa, when the reception of a famous political figure took place in the house of Anatoly Garaguli.

As we can see, even these few examples speak of the stunning charm and boundless spiritual breadth of Anatoly Garaguli. Well, his professional qualities were noted by numerous government and departmental awards, which he continued to receive even while retired.

While still at school, he met his future wife Valeria Nikolaevna Smelovskaya. At first she waited for him throughout the war, and then for 35 years - for his return to shore. Today, the surname Garagul is borne by his two sons - Boris and Sergei, who live in Odessa. In the family photograph presented here, we see the entire family of Captain Garaguli in the early 1960s.

Liliya Melnichenko, leading scientist
employee of the Odessa Literary Museum

A. Garagulya with his son Sergei and V. Vysotsky on the m/v “Gruzia”. Odessa, 1967
Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated the song “Man Overboard” to Anatoly Garagula.

Fragments from the new book “Vladimir Vysotsky without myths and legends”

Victor BAKIN, Daugavpils (Latvia)

On the set of “Dangerous Tours” in Odessa, Vysotsky was with Marina. She really liked the city. Its beautiful and famous stairs, Opera theatre, port...

The motor ship "Georgia" was in the port. The captain, Anatoly Garagulya, met them at the gangway with a charming, kind smile. The former military pilot became one of the best captains of the Black Sea Shipping Company. Most recently, Vysotsky was introduced to him by L. Kocharyan. Possessing an extraordinary sense of humor, the Ukrainian A. Garagulya, in order to match the name of the ship, jokingly spoke with a Georgian accent and usually introduced himself:

- Captain of the ship "Georgia" Ga-ra-gu-lia.

The motor ship "Georgia" was built in 1939 at the Polish shipyard "Swan Hanter" and was named "Sobeski" in honor of the famous commander and king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth J. Sobieski. In 1950, the ship was sold to the USSR, where it received the name “Georgia”. The cabins and salons are of extraordinary luxury, decorated with carpets, embossing and painting. The cabin in which Vladi and Vysotsky traveled was a real apartment, entirely covered in blue velvet. There are mirrors all around... And this makes the room seem even more spacious. The stunning bath features antique polished copper faucets. The delicious food completed the experience. It was still an old, pre-war “Georgia”, subsequently sold for scrap to Italy and replaced in 1975 by a new ship of Finnish construction, and captain A. Garagulya received a new ship under his command, which had the same name.

At that time, this floating comfortable hotel operated six-day cruises along the route: Odessa - Yalta - Novorossiysk - Sochi - Batumi - Odessa. They travel at night and enter ports during the day...

This time it was only a tour of the ship. Cruises will become Vladimir and Marina’s favorite vacation. The hospitable and generous captains of “Adjara”, “Shota Rustaveli”, “Georgia”, “Belarus” will always be happy to see them on board. According to the code of merchant shipping, the captain has the right to invite guests free of charge, and he usually arranged a luxury cabin for them. On the eve of the flight, the captain wrote a statement: “The luxury cabin needs renovation. Please remove it from sale." “The captain’s guest” - this is how Vysotsky’s position in cruise programs will be determined.

At that time, in Moscow, and indeed in the Union in general, the fact of Vysotsky’s acquaintance with Vladi was treated with distrust. Obviously, that’s why their appearance together caused delight and surprise. Lionella Pyryeva recalls: “... when we were filming with Vysotsky in Odessa on the “Dangerous Tour,” Marina came to see him. I drove up in a Volga. Volodya immediately saw her, flew up to her, then followed by a long, long kiss, as sometimes happens in films. The Odessans who surrounded them were absolutely delighted: “Oh, look here, this is Marina Vladi!”

Studio director V. Kostromenko recalls: “Once they brought “Queen of the Bees” to the studio, a French film for private viewing. Very few foreign films were bought then - firstly, it was very expensive, and secondly, they showed a lot of things that Soviet people did not need to see. In general, we began to look for a translator (the film was not dubbed), and then Marina said: “I was filming there, I’ll translate.” The hall was packed to capacity, Marina was sitting in the last row with a microphone, and we almost broke our necks: Marina was naked on the screen, dressed in the hall...”

Marina made many acquaintances and friends in Odessa...

“Once,” recalls Veronika Khalimonova, “we had lunch together at a small “glechik” restaurant in Odessa. Volodya with Marina, Zhvanetsky, Kartsev, Ilchenko and Oleg and me. Volodya was calm, and Marina and Zhvanetsky were vigorously discussing how they could make a film.”

M. Zhvanetsky: “At that time, Vysotsky had the idea of ​​​​making a Russian-French program “Moscow - Paris”. “Misha, I sing and speak in Russian, Marina in French. We are both on stage - hosting a concert. The Moscow Music Hall often plays in Moscow - what could be better?” Great idea!"

The “idea” was on the verge of implementation. A letter from M. Zhvanetsky to Vysotsky has been preserved.

In 1975, at the Wartsila shipyard in the Finnish city of Turku, the transfer of a new vehicle-passenger motor ship "Belorussia" to the customer - Sovcomflot of the USSR - took place. This ship was the lead in a series of five ships. Initially, all five ships were transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company of the USSR Ministry of Marine and Fleet.

The order was given to the Finnish shipyard for a reason - the Wartsila company was already known in the USSR, and Finnish shipbuilders had a lot of experience in building ferries. Despite all the external similarities 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 still intended to transport primarily passengers, and then cars between ports Black Sea coast THE USSR.

m/v "Belorussia" leaves the port of Valletta, 1975

"Belorussia" leaves Southampton, 1987

Red stripe on the false pipe with the Soviet coat of arms, home port of Odessa - this was what "Belorussia" was like in the second half of the 80s. Pictured - June 1988, Fremantle

m/v "Belorussia" 1992. being towed through the English Channel under the tow of SMIT ROTTERDAM

In 1993, after repairs in a dry dock in Singapore, the ship was renamed Kazakhstan II, and then, in 1996, DELPHIN

Already under the name Kazastan II, Durban, 1994.

This is how she is these days - DELPHIN:

on the approach to Kiel harbor (Kiel, Germany)

At the same time, in 1975, the motor 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 was changed to a Ukrainian trident, the name was changed to Odessa Sky, St. Lawrence River, Canada, August 1995

In 1999, the ship sailed under the name Club I. The photo was taken in the North Sea

Soon the ship was renamed again - Club Cruise I. Presumably, 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. The ship sailed under this name until 2009. In 2009 it was renamed again - SALAMIS FILOXENIA. The ship still operates under this name.

Port Caen, 2004

off the coast of Norway, 2007

Kiel Canal, 2008

Port of Split, Croatia, 2008

SALAMIS FILOXENIA at anchor off the island of Patmos, July 2010

If we conditionally divide ships into series according to the year of construction, then the motor ship "Azerbaijan" is the last motor 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 its pictures on various sites - at least one more ship is referred to as Ardkadia, which has nothing to do with our fleet - New Australia and also Monarch of Bermuda). In 1997, the ship was renamed Island Holyday, and the ship operated under this name 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 determine the exact year

Fremantle port, first half of the 90s

Southampton 1992

"Azerbaijan" in Genoa, late 70s. By the way, there is a photo of the motor ship "Ivan Franko" taken at the same pier. Just from a slightly different angle.

1998, the name is Island Holiday

photo from 1996-1997

In 1976, two more vessels of the series were delivered to the USSR Ministry of Marine and Fleet - Kazakhstan and Karelia.

The motor ship "Kazakhstan" was renamed in 1996 - ROYAL SEAS, and in 1997 - "Ukraine". It was for this reason that “Belarus” was called “Kazakhstan II”. In 1998, the ship changed ownership, flag and name - ISLAND ADVENTURE. The ship still operates under this name today. Although in what capacity is difficult to say. It is known that in 2007 it operated 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 in the series was the Karelia. She is currently based in Hong Kong.

"Karelia" was put into operation in 1976, in 1982 the first renaming - the ship received the name of the recently deceased General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L. I. Brezhnev. In 1989, when perestroika was in full swing in the country, the ship was renamed again - its original name was returned. In 1998, the ship passed under the Liberian flag and changed its name to OLVIA, then a series of resales and renamings followed - 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, the mouth of the Elbe River

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