Sailing ship Kruzenshtern: he is already 92 years old, and he is still young

Despite the fact that the Russian training sailing ship Kruzenshtern celebrated its 90th anniversary 2 years ago, it is in excellent condition and makes several voyages every year. But it turns out that this sailboat was not always called that way, and its original purpose was very different from the training goals that it serves today.

The four-masted bark, which is exactly what the name of this category of ships sounds, was launched in the distant 1926. The sailboat was built in Germany, at the shipyard in Gestemünde, and he received the name "Padua". It was the last barge in the Flying-P-Liner series and the last major sailboat built without an auxiliary engine. All previous sailboats in this series, and there were 15 of them, also had names beginning with the letter “P” and were large cargo sailboats that could make long voyages across the oceans and carry large volumes of cargo.

“Padua” and many similar vessels were intended not just for the carriage of goods, but for the delivery of especially important cargo, saltpeter, from South America. Explosives were produced from this raw material in Germany for the needs of the military industry. Therefore, the large carrying capacity of such vessels was their main advantage, ensuring the profitability of their production.

In its first voyage, “Padua” went to the coast of Chile under the control of Captain Karl Schuberg. Before the start of World War II, Padua made many flights to the shores of South America and Australia, and even set several speed records. She delivered saltpeter from Chile, and ready-made dynamite was brought back to South America. But after the outbreak of war, the bark with the sails removed was in the port and did not make sea voyages.

After the war ended, in 1946, the Padua sailing ship was transferred to the USSR through reparations. The ship received the name "Kruzenshtern" in honor of Admiral Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern. But in the postwar years, large sailboats without engines, like the Kruzenshtern, were already considered obsolete, and the mined Baltic Sea for several years after the war was not the most suitable place for sailing. After some deliberation, it was decided that the best option would be to convert the vessel into a hostel, and by 1948 the bark became a floating hostel for 400 people, which was located in Leningrad.

Who knows what the fate of a sailing ship would have been if it hadn’t for the captains I.G.Schneider and P.S. Mitrofanov, who made a lot of efforts to save the ship. Thanks to their efforts in 1955, the Kruzenshtern bark was withdrawn to the waters of the Gulf of Finland, where it was reviewed for suitability for maritime service. The sailboat proved to be excellent, and from that moment his new life began.

Reconstruction of the Kruzenshtern continued until 1961. During this time, steam boilers, two diesel engines were installed on the vessel, solid ballast was installed to increase stability, and the internal structure of the sailboat was modernized. Transformations also affected the outside: for the Kruzenshtern new sails were sewn, and its hull was painted white.

Kruzenshtern turned into a research vessel, which made many voyages in this capacity. Subsequently, the bark became a training vessel and to this day is in the maritime service.

Of all the sailing ships of the Flying P-Liner series, the Kruzenshtern (formerly Padua) is the only vessel that still runs across the seas and oceans. The long-lived sailboat not only makes training flights, but also still participates in international sailing regattas, the last of which took place this summer in the North Sea.