Krim-class cargo liner

The Krim-class ocean liners consisted of six ships built during the late 1920s for service in the Black Sea. The first two ships were built in Germany, but the rest were built in the Soviet Union. Four ships were sunk during the Second World War, while the other two survived the war.

Background
In 1928 the Sovtorgflot (Soviet Commercial Fleet) ordered two ships from the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel, Germany and procured a license to build four more at the Baltic Works in Leningrad. The latter ships were virtually identical with their half-sisters, but differed slightly in some respects. The Krim-class ships were intended for service in the Black Sea with the Black Sea State Shipping Company.

Description
The German-built ships, MS Krim and MS Gruziya, had an overall length of 380 ft, with a beam of 51 ft and a draught of 19 ft. They had two decks and a depth of hold of 25.3 ft. The ships were assessed at, , and. Krim and Gruziya had a pair of six-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engines, each driving a screw propeller, and the engines were rated at a total of 1,163 nominal horsepower. Sources differ about their maximum speed, quoting speeds of 13 kn or 15 kn. The ship had a designed capacity of 450 passengers.

Service
After completion, they were assigned to the Black Sea State Shipping Company with their port of registry at Odessa.