Maxim Gorkiy
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The Maxim Gorkiy , (until 1991 Russian Максим Горький ), was a Soviet cruise ship of the state Black Sea shipping company (until 1992), then the Russian shipping company Sowkomflot (until 2008) and in the long-term charter of Phoenix Reisen in Bonn. It was built in 1968 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Hamburg on behalf of Deutsche Atlantic Linie and was able to start its maiden voyage under the name Hamburg in 1969 .
Originally it was planned to use it as the successor to the scrapped Hanseatic in liner service on the North Atlantic route. However, since the demand on this route continued to decline in the 1960s, it was actually only used for cruises from the beginning, until 1973 under the German flag.
Renaming and sale
After the failure of the merger negotiations between the shipping company Deutsche Atlantic Line and Hapag-Lloyd , which was in liquidity difficulties - enormous cost pressure after the 1973 oil crisis - Hamburg was given the more traditional name Hanseatic for sale . Even during the sales negotiations with Hapag-Lloyd for 25 million euros, a higher Japanese offer of 34 million euros reached the Hamburg shipping company.
After their bankruptcy on December 1st, the Hanseatic (the third with this name) was to be sold to Japan, but the contract, which was ready to be signed, did not materialize and so it was given to the USA for around 31 million euros to cover liabilities . Behind it, however, stood the Soviet state shipping company, which handed the ship over to the Black Sea Shipping Co. on January 25, 1974 under the name Maxim Gorkiy (in honor of the Russian writer Maxim Gorki ).
The Maxim Gorkiy has been sailing without the red star on the bow since 2006 . The logo of the Russian shipping company was removed from the chimney and replaced by the heraldic animal of Phoenix Reisen - the albatross. In addition, instead of the previous red one, it was given a turquoise “belly band”. The Maxim Gorkiy was the time of decommissioning, the longest-serving passenger ship, built in Germany and is operated under the German flag.
Notoriety
In 1974 it was the filming location of the British thriller " 18 Hours to Eternity ", in which it was the scene of blackmail under the film name Britannic .
The ship gained historical importance in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall . A summit meeting between the US President George HW Bush and the Soviet head of state Mikhail Sergejewitsch Gorbachev took place on board the Maxim Gorkiy in December 1989 on board the Maxim Gorkiy in rough seas off the Mediterranean island of Malta to conclude a disarmament agreement .
The Maxim Gorkiy also became known through the media when, a few months earlier, in June 1989, she drove into a field of drift ice in the North Sea off Svalbard and had an accident . All passengers could be saved. The ship threatened to sink and, after a makeshift repair, was able to call at Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven on its own two weeks later . Here she was extensively overhauled during a six-week stay in the shipyard and since then has been used continuously as a cruise ship.
The future serial killer Anatoly Onoprijenko was one of the ship's crew.
Decommissioning and rescue attempts
After the end of the summer season on November 30, 2008, the ship was decommissioned. The main reason for this was the high operating costs, which are mainly due to the steam turbine drive. On September 14, 2008, the Maxim Gorkiy sailed the Kiel Canal for the last time under this name on her voyage from Gdansk to Bremerhaven .
At the beginning of 2009 it became known that the shipping company had sold the ship for the equivalent of US $ 4.2 million to an Indian recycling company for scrapping in Alang . On the evening of January 28, 2009 she left the port of Piraeus under the transfer name Maxim M and reached Alang on February 15, 2009.
In order to prevent scrapping and to preserve the ship for the Hanseatic City of Hamburg as a technical cultural monument, an interest group with the support of the member of parliament Hans Lafrenz got involved in the purchase of the ship, which was then to be converted into a hotel and museum ship. One of the main prerequisites for maintaining the ship was that the city of Hamburg provided an attractive rent-free berth. Due to the demands made by the Senate and security deposits in connection with a less favorable berth, the existing investors jumped out. The ship was meanwhile on its way to Alang, so that new donors or other rescue options could no longer be implemented in the short time.
scrapping
On the morning of February 25, 2009, the ship was beached near Alang, India, where it was cannibalized and scrapped. Almost a year later, at the end of January 2010, the last remains of the ship were removed.
See also
Web links
- Documentation of the unsuccessful rescue attempts to keep the old Hamburg as a hotel and museum ship in Hamburg
- History of Hamburg and the Hamburg shipping company Deutsche Atlantic Linie
- Biography of Maxim Gorkiy , travel reports, memorabilia, postcards, virtual tour of the ship
- German Atlantic Line - T / S Hamburg (English, with picture)
Individual evidence
- ^ German Atlantic Line - T / S Hamburg. In: www.ssmaritime.com. Retrieved June 15, 2019 (English, with picture).
- ↑ Maksim Gorkiy - IMO 6810627. In: Internet site Shipspotting. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Harald Focke : Water salute for the HAMBURG at the Steubenhöft. 50 years ago, the cruise ship handed over to the German Atlantic Line in Cuxhaven . In: Men from the Morgenstern Heimatbund at the mouth of the Elbe and Weser. V. (Ed.): Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt . No. 831 . Nordsee-Zeitung GmbH, Bremerhaven March 2019, p. 1 ( digital version [PDF; 3.3 MB ; accessed on June 15, 2019]).
- ↑ TS Hamburg (1969-2009). In: www.schiffe-maxim.de. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Markus Lorenz: Northern lights want to save old "TS Hamburg". In: Schleswig-Holstein newspaper publisher website . January 12, 2009, accessed June 15, 2019 .
- ^ Hotel ship Hamburg. In: www.hotelschiffhamburg.de. April 2, 2009, archived from the original on March 8, 2016 ; accessed on June 15, 2019 .