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The Gorch Fock I (ex Tovarishch, ex Gorch Fock) is a German three-mast barque. Originally
built as a school ship for the German Reichsmarine in 1933, she was
taken as war reparation by the USSR after World War II. After the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ship sailed under the Ukrainian
flag from 1992 to 1993. In 1995, she was transferred to
Newcastle-upon-Tyne for repairs, which however, somehow never even
began. In 1999, she was moved to Wilhelmshaven and finally acquired
by private sponsors and transferred to her original home port
Stralsund, Germany, where she was re-baptized Gorch Fock on
November 29, 2003. She is a museum ship today, and although efforts
are being made to reactivate her, it is doubtful whether she will
sail ever again.
The Gorch Fock served as a training vessel for the German
Reichsmarine. During the second World War, she was a stationary
office ship in Stralsund, until she was officially reactivated on
April 19, 1944. On May 1, 1945, the crew scuttled her in shallow
waters off Rügen in an attempt to avoid capture by the Russian
troops.
However, the Russians raised and salvaged her in 1947 and
restored her from 1948 to 1950. The ship was newly named the
Tovarishch ("Comrade" in Russian) in 1951 and put into service
as a training vessel again. Her new home port was Odessa. Under the
name Tovarishch she participated in many Tall Ships' Races
and cruised far and wide on the seven seas. She made a voyage around
the world in 1957 and won the Operation Sail race twice, in 1974 and
1976.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the
Tovarishch sailed under the Ukrainian flag (home port was then
Cherson) until 1993, when she was deactivated due to a lack of
funds. In 1995, she sailed for the last time from Cherson to
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where private sponsors wanted to have her
repaired. This enterprise failed due to the high costs, and in 1999,
the ship was transported to Wilhelmshaven in Germany, where she
stayed in dock for four years until she finally was transferred to
Stralsund, Germany in 2003. On November 29, 2003 the ship was
re-baptized Gorch Fock. Currently, she serves as a museum
ship. |
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| Gorch Fock I |
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