Crew of m/v Georgia. White steamer Motor ship Georgia history

There are still legends and myths about the death of ships of the Black Sea Fleet. They say that there is little truth in them, but there is still some.

“Jean Jaurès” threatens Feodosia?

Among the residents of Feodosia, the legend about the transport “Jean Zhores” is popular: “During the Second World War, a ship with a huge amount of explosives on board sank off the coast of Feodosia Bay. 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 his hole-in-the-hole eye at the townspeople eating, drinking, and walking. 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 be repeated, when during the First World War an exploding transport with ammunition essentially destroyed a large Canadian city.” It is clear that there is little truth in this legend. And now - how it really happened...

In fact, the 112-meter-long ship 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 supported 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 Jaurès.

We did not have time to complete the unloading. As dawn approached, the ship, fearing a threat from the air, went out to the open sea. With the onset of darkness it took a reverse course. The storm, as well as the lack of navigation lights on the shore, caused by the needs of blackout, made maneuvering difficult. "Jean Jaurès" was blown up by a mine, possibly Soviet. 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 abandon the Jean, and it soon sank. In the post-war period, the ship was subjected to inspection by divers. Artillery pieces and rifle cartridges were found on board the ship. As for the shells, they are reported: “No ammunition detected.” 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 was the reason for the final decision taken in the 1970s to refuse to raise it.

Chemical "Georgia"

“Jean Jaurès” is far from the only ship sunk off the coast of Crimea with a significant amount of ammunition on board. And this ammunition is by no means always ordinary...

The history of the Georgian ship is full of dark mysteries. The ship was built in 1928 in Germany, at the Krupa shipyard in the city of Kiel. On June 11, 1942 at 21.45, "Georgia", accompanied by the base minesweeper "Shield" and 5 patrol boats, left Novorossiysk for Sevastopol. According to official data, there were 708 marching replenishment people 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 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, 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 ammunition hold. At 4.55 there was a detonation. The force of the explosion tore the ship's hull in half. The rear part of the hull quickly sank with a list to starboard, and after 8 minutes the bow part also sank to the bottom. Almost everyone on board died. Only a few shell-shocked people were able to be picked up in the water by the rescue boat sailors...

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 - 21 ASO Black Sea Fleet under the command of Captain 1st Rank N. T. Rybalko. The calculations were carried out by engineer major K. A. Tsybin. The stern section was lifted first. She was towed to Cossack Bay and sank there in a shallow place. The bow was lifted in February - November 1949. It was also sunk in Cossack Bay at a depth of about 21 m. The story, however, did not end there...

The fact is that next to the bay there was a Khersones airfield, which then served as a government airfield. The dangerous proximity to a flooded vehicle from which ammunition had not been completely unloaded did not suit the security service. A categorical order was received to study and recover the wreckage of the Georgia. Divers went down and drew up an inspection report. The report noted the presence of shells in the holds of the ship.

In the period from December 18 to 20, 1956, parts of the Georgian hull were again examined by divers. What was unexpected was the presence of artillery shells with toxic substances such as mustard gas and lewisite and chemical bombs of various calibers. The work itself to raise “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 dark secret of the icebreaker “S. Makarov." This is an English-built ship, originally named “Prince Pozharsky”. It arrived from Great Britain to 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 proceed to Sevastopol, where fierce fighting was already taking place, but did not arrive at the port of destination. Four days later, the then commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Filipp Sergeevich Oktyabrsky (Ivanov), wrote in his diary: “But there is no information about the icebreaker “S. Makarov"..." The search began, ending unsuccessfully on November 26. The icebreaker disappeared without a trace. One of the versions put forward during the investigation of the incident was the betrayal of part of the team who wanted to go over to the enemy’s side. Allegedly, in accordance with the traditions of pirate novels, Captain Chertkov was killed and thrown overboard. The ship, crewed by rebels, sailed, as a number of witnesses reported, under the German flag on the route Constanta - Odessa.

There was, however, another version. It was formulated by the famous naval historian from Germany J. Meister in his book “Soviet Ships in the Second World War,” published in London in 1977. According to the author, “Makarov” with a mutinous crew on board tried to go over to the enemy’s side, but I couldn't. Alarmed Soviet military aircraft destroyed the ship and everyone on it in January 1942 near Cape Tarkhankut, off the western coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

And in 2005, his own version of solving the mystery of the icebreaker “S. Makarov” was proposed by the famous Russian military historian Alexander Shirokorad. He claims the following: in fact, “Makarov” on November 17 did not leave Tuapse for Sevastopol, but vice versa. However, before its release, for reasons of secrecy during the transition period, it 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 initiated knew about the renaming. In violation of the order - merchant ships should 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. An explosion occurred not far from Cape Fiolent. Radio operators of the Sevastopol Water District Protection (OVR) received a radiogram: “Icebreaker “Kerch”. I was blown up by a mine. I'm drowning. Send 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 codes. No boats, of course, were sent anywhere. The ship with its entire crew and cargo of toxic substances sank to the bottom, where it remains to this day, in close proximity to 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 mutiny on board has no less credibility. In the end, it is possible to construct a model of the development of events. For example, games with renaming the ship can be explained not by the desire to hide the poisonous cargo, but by an attempt by the Soviet intelligence services to hide the fact of the mutiny. 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 had no need to lie.

"Memory of Mercury" has a bad fate

Another riot allegedly occurred on board the cruiser Comintern. The ship has a very turbulent history. In 1905, it became part of the Black Sea Fleet as a cruiser called “Memory of Mercury”. By the way, according to a long-standing tradition, there must always be a ship with that name on the Black Sea, and the death in the winter of 2001 of the ship of the same name, owned by one of the Simferopol companies, is symptomatic. (Then, as a result of the disaster that occurred off the southern coast of Crimea, 20 people died. The ship operating the flight Istanbul - Yevpatoria, 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 it underwent major repairs, participated in the First World War, and on December 16, 1917, went over to the side of the Soviet regime, then passed from hand to hand: the Germans, the Entente, the Whites - and fell into complete disrepair. The Soviet government restored Cahul for quite a long time, about three years (1921 - 1923). In the midst of work (1922), the decision was made to rename the ship “Comintern”. She entered service as a training cruiser. With the outbreak of hostilities in 1941, the Comintern was reorganized into a minelayer. Its crew numbered 490 people.

The reference books speak evasively about the participation of the Comintern in the Great Patriotic War: “defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, carried out military transport.” Of course, you won’t find a word about a riot on the ship there. However, rumors about this event are persistent. It passes from one generation of sailors and marine writers to another. One of the journalists writing about the fleet, several years ago, approached the author of these lines with a request to consult with law enforcement officers about the presence of materials about the incident in the archives of the main department of the SBU in Simferopol. Law enforcement officials 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 required folder, you need to know either the name of the accused or the investigator who led the criminal case. Of course, a mutiny in the navy in a warring country could not have had a “press.” Therefore, the names and surnames of the newly-minted “Lieutenant Schmidts” remained unknown to the general public. Of course, the “knights of the cloak and dagger” who defeated the “hydra of counter-revolution” on a ship with such a glorious name were not advertised. And so the “second battleship Potemkin” remains to this day one of the many secrets of the Black Sea Fleet.

Crusader Coin Ancient coins are of great value as a source of information about past times. They concentrated the spirit, the aroma of those eras that will never return. Touching an ancient coin, a person is transported back in time. I experienced a similar feeling when I first picked up a medieval crusader coin - a penny for the County of Tripoli. The campaigns of the knights in Palestine, which pursued the goal of liberating Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher from Muslims, and their founding of Christian states in the Eastern Mediterranean had a strong influence on the development of the medieval world. In the “Latin East”, in Palestine and Syria, the crusaders in the 11th-13th centuries created four states - the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa and the County of Tripoli. They all minted their own coins, the images and inscriptions of which mixed European, Islamic and Byzantine design elements. In search of a memorable souvenir about Latakia, I came across an antique shop, where in a pile of old trash I noticed a small round silver object. This castle was named after Count Raymond of Saint-Gilles, leader of the First Crusade and founder of the fortress. By the way, this fortress has been well preserved to this day. - said Pyotr Osipovich. Thus, in 1289, the history of the County of Tripoli ended tragically.

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 nevertheless intended to transport primarily passengers, and then cars between the ports of the Black Sea coast of 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 is 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 occurred 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 already Island Holiday

photo from 1996-1997

In 1976, two more vessels of the series were delivered to the USSR Ministry of Marine 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

________________________________________ ___________________

Photos of ships - www.shipspotting.com, www.faktaomfartyg.se

Information on renaming - www.faktaomfartyg.se

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 House, 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, which was subsequently sold for scrap to Italy and replaced in 1975 by a new Finnish-built ship, 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.

Vysotsky is third from the right, Marina Vladi and sailors of Soviet cruise ships against the backdrop of the motor ship "Georgia"

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 remained for thousands of people who at different times looked at the horizon line from his 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 1950s-70s, the liner operated regular flights on the Crimean-Caucasian line in the Black Sea.
Among its passengers was Vladimir Vysotsky. He was very fond of sea cruises, every year he went 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 the 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 memoirs, they note the comfort and sophistication of the ship’s interior 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 military personnel 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 participated in the Battle of Dakar (Operation Menace) - an unsuccessful attempt by the 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 surrender of the French. 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. It is interesting that 15 thousand tons of fuel for the operation were delivered from Port Said to the ports of South Africa by 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 passenger aviation flying across the ocean has begun. 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 three passenger ships of the German shipping company "Seedienst Ostpreussen": "Tannenberg", "Hansestadt Danzig" and "Preussen" in the whirlwind of historical events of the 1930-40s.