Rosa Luxemburg (ship)

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The Rosa Luxembourg ( Russian Роза Люксембург Rosa Ljuxemburg ) was an auxiliary cruiser (Вспомогательный крейсер, Wspomogatelny Kreiser ) and gunboat (канонерская лодка, kanonerskaja lodka ) of the Red Workers' and Peasants fleet and 1919/20 on the Caspian Sea used.

Technical specifications

  • Year of construction: 1897
  • Country of manufacture: Germany (German Empire)
  • Type: tanker
  • original name: Aga Selim ( Ага Селим )
  • Decommissioned: 1926

period of service

Probably at the beginning of 1919, the former Turkish tanker Aga Selim was put into service for the Astrakhan-Caspian Flotilla of the Red Fleet and renamed Rosa Luxemburg in honor of the German communist . The flagship of the flotilla , the former Finn , was presumably renamed Karl Liebknecht at the same time .

The tanker was equipped with two 13 cm guns and used as an auxiliary cruiser. Due to the caliber of the guns, the auxiliary cruiser was one of the most heavily armed war vehicles on the Caspian Sea. He was involved in several skirmishes against the British Caspiflotilla under Commander David Thomas Norris in April / May 1919 .

Apparently the ship emerged largely undamaged from the naval battle of Fort Alexandrowsk on May 21, 1919, in which a large part of the Red Flotilla was destroyed.

On May 18, 1920, Rosa Luxemburg also took part in the raid of the Red Flotilla on Enseli (today Bandar Anzali ) / Iran , in which the remains of the former British Kaspi flotilla were captured and returned to Baku .

From 1920 to 1923 the Rosa Luxemburg was classified as a gunboat (канонерская лодка). From 1923 it was used as a geographic research vessel , and Weyer's pocket book on the war fleets from 1926 still uses it as a survey vehicle. In 1926 it was decommissioned. A reconstruction drawing of the ship by the marine painter Olaf Rahardt is printed in Patrick Thornhill's diary.

literature

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