MS Excelsior Neptune

Feliks Dzerzhinskiy and Krasin at shipyard in Wismar in 1958
History
Name:
  • Feliks Dzerzhinskiy (1958–1988)
  • Excelsior Neptune (1988–1993)
Owner:
Operator:
Port of registry:
Builder: VEB Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany
Yard number: 102[1]
Completed: 1958
Acquired: 1958
In service: 1958
Out of service: 1993[1]
Identification:
Fate: sank at shipyard, wrecked in tow off Canton in January 1993[3]
General characteristics
Class and type: Mikhail Kalinin-class ocean liner
Tonnage:
Length: 122.15 m (400.75 ft)[4][2]
Beam: 16.00 m (52.49 ft)[4]
Height: 7.60 m (24.93 ft)[4]
Draught: 5.21 m (17.09 ft)16.00 m (52.49 ft)[4]
Installed power:
  • 2 × MAN-DMR K6Z57/80 diesels,
  • 6,192 kW (8,304 hp)
Propulsion: 2 propellers
Speed: 17.0 knots (31.5 km/h; 19.6 mph)[4]
Capacity: 333 passengers
Crew: 134[5]

MS Excelsior Neptune (originally, the Feliks Dzerzhinskiy) was an ocean liner owned by the Soviet Union's Black Sea Shipping Company. She was built in 1958 by VEB Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany, as one of the Mikhail Kalinin series of ships. It was named after Felix Dzerzhinsky, a Soviet statesman and founder of the Soviet secret police (Cheka).

The Feliks Dzerzhinskiy entered regular service with the Black Sea Shipping between Odessa and Alexandria in 1958, and after 1970 she was used by the Far East Shipping between Vladivostok and Kamchatka, and from Nakhodka to Yokohama and Hong Kong. In the late 1970s she was also used by the CTC Line for Pacific Ocean cruises out of Fremantle and Sydney.[6]

In 1988 she was renamed Excelsior Neptune, and was sold to Chinese interests in 1992. It was planned to rebuild her as a cruise ship, along with her sister ship Excelsior Mercury (formerly the Mariya Ulyanova), but she sank in January 1993 while being towed from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Excelsior Neptune (Феликс Дзержинский → 10.1988) (Russian)
  2. 1 2 3 Fleet list of FESCO, Feliks Dzerzhinskiy (second) (Russian)
  3. ↑ MV Excelsior Neptune, Wrecksite
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Регистровая книга морских судов СССР 1964-1965 - Register Book of Sea-going Ships of the USSR PDF, p. 1151 (Russian)
  5. ↑ Technical Data, Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze
  6. ↑ Plowman, Peter (2007). Australian Cruise Ships. Kenthurst, NSW: Rosenberg Publishing Pty. Ltd. p. 25. ISBN 9781877058509.
  7. ↑ "Cruise Travel - General Info: Mikhail Kalinin series". travelpage.com. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
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