N/M MIKHAIL LERMONTOV

Quinto e último navio da classe IVAN FRANKO, o paquete soviético MIKHAIL LERMONTOV entrou ao serviço da Baltic Steamship Company em 1972, tendo visitado muitas vezes Lisboa e o Funchal. Foi o primeiro a desaparecer, por naufrágio na Nova Zelândia em 1986, tendo-se afundado na posição 41.03.30S/174.12.30E a 16.2.86 por erro de navegação. 

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

De Alexandre a Marco 50 anos depois

Capa do plano de acomodações do paquete soviético ALEXANDR PUSHKIN de 1965 editado pela Baltic Steamship Company de Leninegrado

Uma das vantagens de ter começado a gostar de navios muito cedo traduziu-se, com os anos, no facto de hoje os conhecer do avesso, caso deste Alexandre que um dia se passou a chamar Marco, não Paulo em homenagem ao artista cantor, simplesmente MARCO POLO. Nos meus tempos de escola, quando o mestre ou a mestra, (que também as havia) não me conseguia prender a atenção numa aula, pegava num postal dos correios e escrevia para uma companhia de navegação a pedir postais, fotografias, brochuras e demais informações e publicidade que tivessem disponíveis. Muitas vezes respondiam e fui colecionando muito material, como este plano de acomodações do ALEXANDR PUSKIN, construído em 1965 na RDA e que passou a visitar o Tejo com frequência, numa época em que a frota de paquetes da URSS tinha dezenas de navios.

O ALEXANDR PUSHKIN foi o segundo de cinco gémeos de 20 000 TAB e capacidade para 750 passageiros, construidos de 1964 a 1973 e hoje é o único sobrevivente da classe IVAN FRANKO. Faz 50 anos este ano e continua a navegar ao serviç da companhia Cruise & Maritime Voyages, passando por Lisboa diversas vezes todos os anos.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

SOVIET LINERS

"Sail The Seas And Oceans On A Soviet Liner" – "Navegue Nos Mares E Oceanos Num Paquete Soviético" – era o convite expresso no título de um livrinho publicitário editado em 1970 pela Morpasflot, a companhia estatal da União das Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas que centralizava a frota de navios de passageiros russos a partir de Moscovo. 

No livro "Soviet Bloc Merchant Ships", publicado em 1977, Bruno Bock refere que entre 1970 e 1975 os paquetes russos transportaram uma média de 50 milhões de passageiros por ano em 16 carreiras regulares entre a URSS e outros países do Comecon e 30 carreiras para os países ocidentais, para além de um número considerável de passageiros transportados em viagens de cruzeiros em navios fretados a operadores turísticos estrangeiros. Dos 6 milhões de turistas que em 1980 visitaram a União Soviética, cerca de 600.000 utilizaram navios soviéticos." - Parte de um artigo de LMC publicado na nova edição da revista CRUZEIROS, uma publicação que recomendamos vivamente a todos osinteressados em navios de passageiros.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

OLVIA ex-KARELIYA in Lisbon

Ukranian cruise ship OLVIA photographed in Lisbon on 26 July 1998 while cruising for the Russian market under charter to Primexpress.

Built in Finland as the fifth and final ship of the BYELORUSSIYA-class, OLVIA was delivered in 1976 from the Turku yard of Wartsila as KARELIYA. Between 1982 and 1989 she sailed under the name LEONID BREZHNEV reverting to her original name in 1989. She was renamed OLVIA in 1998 operating for several cruise operators and for Peace Boat of Japan. In 2004 she was sold to gambling interests of Hong Kong and started a new career as the casino ship NEPTUNE, her name being changed to CT NEPTUNE between April 2005 and February 2006 when again she reverted to the previous name NEPTUNE. Under this name she is still in gambling cruise service Based in Hong Kong, China. All her sisters have had also checkered careers worldwide and still exist.
See another photo of OLVIA here. See several of OLVIA's former Soviet fleet mates here and also there.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

ASSEDO ex SHOTA RUSTAVELI

The ASSEDO with her funnel painted blue leaving Lisbon. As SHOTA RUSTAVELI she was the first passenger liner of the Soviet Union to call in Lisbon in1975.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

MAXIM GORKIY em Leixões 30-09-2008

O navio de cruzeiros russo de bandeira da Bahamas MAXIM GORKIY fez ontem, 30 de Setembro, a sua última escala em Portugal, ao visitar Leixões em viagem de Bremerhaven e Falmouth para Melilla e o Mediterrâneo num cruzeiro de 18 dias que termina a 14 de Outubro em Veneza. Fotografias enviadas por Fernando Leal, a quem agradecemos a atenção.
The cruise ship MAXIM GORKIY photographed at Leixões on 30 September 2008 by Fernando Leal. The classic cruise ship was doing her final call on a Portuguese port under the current name.
Texto de /Text copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

Soviet Liner LATVIA in Lisbon

The Soviet passenger ship LATVIA arriving in Lisbon on a cruise in the 1980s. She was operated by the Black Sea Shippping Company based in Odessa and had 18 sisterships, all built in East Germany in 1958-1964.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

SHOTA RUSTAVELI in Lisbon (1983)

The Soviet cruise and passenger liner SHOTA RUSTAVELI of 1968 photographed berthed in 1983 at the Rocha Cruise Terminal, Lisbon with the tug ÁLA at her bow.
The Soviet Union passenger ship fleet was the largest in the world by the late 1970s and early 1980s. By then ships were used on regular service worldwide as well on popular charter cruises mostly operated by western operators, acting as Soviet Propaganda and hard western currency earners. By 1983 when this picture was taken, the URSS ships were by far the more current visitor cruise ships in Lisbon.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

The SHOTA RUSTAVELI in Lisbon (1984)

The Soviet passenger liner SHOTA RUSTAVELI arriving Lisbon early in the morning of 26 July 1984 on a summer cruise chartered to an Italian tour operator.
The fourth of five sisters of the RDA-built IVAN FRANKO-class, she was delivered with a black hull in 1968 and sailed mostly under charter to western cruising operators, like CTC (London and Sydney).
Although built to the same design, later the five sisters were slightly rebuilt in different ways and it was very easy to recognize each one...
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

Paquete SHOTA RUSTAVELI no Tejo (1984)

O paquete soviético SHOTA RUSTAVELI fotografado a largar da Estação Marítima da Rocha em 23 de Agosto de 1984.
O SHOTA datava de 1968 e era a quarta unidade de uma classe de 5 navios construídos na RDA e entregues entre 1964 e 1972: a classe IVAN FRANKO, de 20.000 toneladas.
O navio tinha de início casco preto, e foi transferido para o registo da Ucrania com a liquidação da antiga URSS, uma vez que embora propriedade do Estado Soviético, era operado pela Black Sea Shipping Company, com base em Odessa. Mais tarde ainda navegou com o nome ASSEDO antes de ser desmantelado na India.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

A look at the ASSEDO

Two photographs of the Ukranian cruise ship ASSEDO on her first call to Lisbon under this name on 2nd July 2003.
Built in East Germany as the fourth ship in the IVAN FRANKO-class she sailed as SHOTA RUSTEVELI for many years until the colapse of the Soviet Union and the dispersion of their fleet of passenger and cruise ships.
Of the five IVAN FRANKO sisters, only the MARCO POLO ex-ALEKSANDR PUSHKIN remains in service.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia