Hydrofoils (SPK)

In 1957, the first ship came off the Feodosia shipyard in Ukraine "Rocket" project 340.
The ship was able to develop an unheard-of speed of 60 km / h at that time and take 64 people on board.

Following the "Rockets" in the 1960s, larger and more comfortable twin-screw"Meteors" produced by Zelenodolsk shipbuilding plant. The passenger capacity of these ships was 123 people. The motor ship had three saloons and a bar-buffet.

In 1962 appear "Comets" project 342m, in fact the same "Meteors", only modernized for operation at sea. They could walk with more high wave, had radar equipment (radar)

In 1961, simultaneously with the launch of the Meteors and Comets series, the Nizhny Novgorod shipbuilding plant Krasnoye Sormovo launched a project 329 ship " Satellite" - the largest SPC. It carries 300 passengers at a speed of 65 km/h. Also, as with Meteor, they built a marine version of Sputnik, called "Vortex" . But over the course of four years of operation, a lot of shortcomings were revealed, including the great voracity of four engines and the discomfort of passengers due to strong vibration.

For comparison, "Sputnik" and "Rocket"

In Togliatti, they made it either a museum or a tavern. There was a fire in 2005. Now it looks like this.

"Petrel" - one of the most beautiful ships in the entire series! This is a gas turbine developed by the Central Design Bureau of the SPK R. Alekseev, Gorky. "Petrel" was the flagship among the river SPK. It had a power plant based on two gas turbine engines borrowed from civil aviation (from the Il-18). Operated from 1964 until the end of the 70s on the Volga on the route Kuibyshev - Ulyanovsk - Kazan - Gorky. The Burevestnik had a capacity of 150 passengers and had an operating speed of 97 km/h. However, it did not go into mass production - two aircraft engines made a lot of noise and required a lot of fuel.

Has not been used since 1977. In 1993, cut into scrap.

In 1966, the Gomel Shipyard produces a vessel for shallow rivers, a little over 1 meter deep. "Belarus" passenger capacity of 40 people and a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. And since 1983, it will produce an upgraded version "Polesie ", which already takes on board 53 people at the same speed.

Rockets and Meteors were getting old. R. Alekseev's Central Design Bureau created new projects. In 1973, the Feodosia Shipbuilding Plant launched the second-generation SPK "Sunrise" .
Voskhod is a direct receiver of the Rocket. This ship is more economical and spacious (71 people).

In 1980, at the Shipyard named after Ordzhonikidze (Georgia, Poti) opens the production of SPK "Colchis" . Vessel speed 65 km/h, passenger capacity 120 people. In total, about forty ships were built. Currently, only two are operated in Russia: one vessel on the St. Petersburg - Valaam line, called "Triada", the other in Novorossiysk - "Vladimir Komarov".




In 1986, a new double-deck flagship of the sea passenger SPK was launched in Feodosia "Cyclone" , which had a speed of 70 km / h and took on board 250 passengers. It was operated in the Crimea, then it was sold to Greece. In 2004, he returned to Feodosia for repairs, but is still standing there in a semi-dismantled state.

I know nothing will come back
An evil heart beats in the clock.
Only sometimes will respond
Sun, something eternal in us.

I remember the 85th year. Novorossiysk, the ship "Ivan Franko" is standing at the pier. To me, a five-year-old kid, then it seemed simply huge in comparison with river boats.
Now there is no "Ivan Franko" - like most of the Soviet naval fleet, he ended his life on the "Beach of the Dead" in Indian Alang, someone - in Pakistan or Turkey.
This post is a memory. About the fleet that we once had. And I really want to hope that again handsome liners under the Russian tricolor will sail the seas. But for now - alas - it's a dream. Someone will say - all over the world ships are cut into metal. I do not argue. But instead of the departed, new ones appear. And we are still deaf. Not even used ones. This is sad.

Motor ship "Ivan Franko" leaving Alexandria, 1993

motor ship "Mikhail Lermontov" arrives in Tilbury, 1985. Sunk off the coast of New Zealand on February 16, 1986 (was on charter there). 1 person died.

In total, there were five such ships in Sovtorgflot. The first yatyrs - Ivan Franko, Alexander Pushkin, Shota Rustavelli and Taras Shevchenko
- built in series from 1964 to 1968. Lermontov stood apart here - it was built in 1972, according to a partially modernized project. The fate of the ships of the series is as follows - Ivan Franko, Shota Rustavelli and Taras Shevchenko were cut into scrap metal in 1997, 2003 and 2004, respectively, Mikhail Lermontov sank in 1986, only one ship remains alive - Alexander Pushkin (built in 1965) - now he called Marco Polo. But its prospects are vague, since the ship does not meet the SOLAS-2010 standards, and the required conversion to these standards, although insignificant, is very expensive.

ASSEDO (ex-Shota Rustavelli) in the Kiel Canal, 2003

turboship "Maxim Gorky"

One of the last veterans. Now it has already been practically dismantled for metal in the Indian Alang. The history of the vessel is as follows - it was originally built as transatlantic liner. But he didn’t manage to work especially on the transatlantic line - almost immediately Hamburg (as the ship was originally called) got under cruises. Built in 1969, the ship was purchased by the Soviet Union in 1973. Almost immediately, the ship begins to work with tourists in different parts the globe. In the 90s, the ship returned to Germany and worked "under the wing" of Phoenix Reisen. Already in the 2000s, problems with turbines and boilers begin. And the rising cost of fuel. They tried to sell the ship more than once, and at the end of 2009 it was sold for scrap. There were repeated attempts by German enthusiasts to buy it (with the return of the old name) and install it in Hamburg as a museum ship. But alas, in December 2009, the ship arrived at its last anchorage. At the moment, the cutting is at the final stage.

turboship "Fyodor Chaliapin"

This is from the breed of British trotters. Cunard realizing that at least the old queens will still get out due to prestige - the future is far from such giants. Nevertheless, the British still hoped that the transatlantic would live. Boeing and others like them slammed hope. The fate of the "small three" of Cunard - the liners Ivernia, Frankonia, Carmania - turned out to be questionable. Two liners - Ivernia and Carmania in 1973-1974 were bought by the USSR. Our transport workers came to the yard - especially in the Far East - Ivernia went there, becoming "Fyodor Chaliapin". Then he was transferred to the CHMP. Carmania (formerly Saxonia) went to the Black Sea under the name "Leonid Sobinov". Chaliapin was dismantled in 2004, Sobinov - in 1999.

turboship "Leonid Sobinov"

In general, it should be noted here that the main focus of the work of the Soviet maritime fleet was for the most part transport, rather than cruise. This was especially evident in the Far Eastern Shipping Company. Another feature of the passenger fleet of the USSR was diversity - in contrast to the river fleet, which in the 50s began to be actively updated with serial ships (at the same time, many old non-serial steamers remained until the mid-late 60s). A significant influence here was the small number of shipyards in the USSR that could build sea vessels. The shipyards were loaded for the most part with orders for the cargo and navy. Construction abroad was not cheap, since the shipyards of the socialist countries, again, in the mass were either on the rivers, where it was impossible to carry large ships, or were loaded with orders from the Ministry of River Fleet. Construction at the shipyards of capitalist countries was very expensive. To a large extent, the loading of maritime shipyards (especially in Vladivostok and the Black Sea) was also due to the very difficult repair of old sea trophy ships. In the Far East, "libertos" - sea transporters of the Liberty type, built during the war years in the USA, "turned on the heat" "turned on the heat". A simple and unpretentious vessel, but which was essentially "disposable". After the war, they were driven to the shipyards, the metal on the skin was almost completely changed. Until recently, one Liberty was still alive - it was the cargo ship "Odessa", which stood in one of the harbors of Vladivostok and was used as a floating ship.
In general, until the mid-70s, the passenger fleet held on to pre-war ships quite strongly - this was the trend all over the world. Cheap fuel, well-developed ships and lines - all this made it possible to go on the "old men".

ship "Admiral Nakhimov"

This photo is unique (thanks to Vitaly Kostrichenko, a seafaring enthusiast, you can now find quite a lot of quite unique photographic material on domestic ships on shipspotting) in that it was taken in Wismar, Germany, during the reconstruction of the ship.
The ship was built in 1925. Original name "Berlin". The ship was lucky as a drowned man in the literal sense. Like many large ships of that time, Berlin was built for the transatlantic line. But unlike his colleague "Bremen" (which went to the British and was mercilessly sawn into nails), his task was not in the records for the blue ribbon of the Atlantic. It was a ship for transporting customers across the ocean is simpler. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, the ship was removed from the transatlantic line and began to work under the auspices of the KDF (an analogue of our trade unions). During the war, Berlin becomes a transport. In 1945, she was scuttled in shallow water by her crew. After the division of the fleet, the ship was transferred to the USSR. After lifting, she was sent to Newcastle, where hull repairs were made, after which the ship was transferred to Wismar to the Matias Tessen shipyard. Repair of the ship continued until 1955. Initially, the ship was supposed to go to the Far East, but at the very last moment its fate changed and it stood on the Crimean-Caucasian line of the Black Sea Shipping Company. And "Asia" went to the Far East. The ship had to put on a military jacket again during the Caribbean crisis - it made several voyages to the shores of Cuba. The Admiral Nakhimov sank abeam Cape Doob when leaving Novorossiysk on August 31, 1986. Dry cargo ship "Pyotr Vasev" hit him on the side. You can read more about the disaster here - http://admiral-nakhimov.net.ru/stat.htm
There were 897 passengers on board at the time of the crash. 359 people died.

1945 Here in this form "Berlin" went to the Soviet Union

"Admiral Nakhimov" in the port of Novorossiysk

steamship Der Deutsche. As a result of the division of the fleet, he ended up in the USSR, renamed "Asia". Scrapped in Japan in 1967

steam turbine ship "Soviet Union"

This ship was rightfully considered the flagship of the Far East shipping company. Built in Germany by order of HAPAG in 1922 and named after the first president and founder of the company - Albert Ballin. Ballin committed suicide in 1918 on the day of the German surrender. On account of HAPAG before the First World War - the blue ribbon of the Atlantic. Turboboat "Deutschland" snatched it literally from the British.
Albert Ballin was the fruit of a different doctrine. Realizing that it was unrealistic to snatch the "Blue Ribbon" from Britain, the company followed the principle - Comfort and size over speed. In speed, the new ship was certainly inferior to the queens, but in terms of comfort and carrying capacity it even surpassed them. A total of four such vessels were built. After Hitler came to power, the ship was renamed Hansa. After the war, Hansa goes to the Soviet Union along with the Hamburg liner of the same type. I must say that the ships were repeatedly modernized in Germany. The most radical modernization was carried out in the winter of 34/35, when bow both liners was lengthened by 10 meters. This, coupled with the tuning and modernization of turbines and boilers, gave an increase in speed to 19 knots. Hansa became the "Soviet Union" and went to the Far East as a passenger liner (taken over by the shipping company in 1955), and Hamburg became the whaling base "Yuri Dolgoruky"

"Soviet Union" lead to the harbor

As part of the FESCO, the ship worked until 1980. It passed another modernization of the machine in Hong Kong in 1971. In the late 70s, the ship became a training ship. Cut up in Japan in 1982-1983.

"Soviet Union" in Kamchatka, 70s

turboship "Baltika"

The history of this vessel began in 1939. The government of the USSR for the Baltic Shipping Company ordered two ships of the same type in the Netherlands - "Vyacheslav Molotov" and "Joseph Stalin". Already in the first days of the war, ships were mobilized and turned into military vehicles. During the evacuation from the Hanko Peninsula, both ships came under fire. "Stalin" lost speed and control. The current carried the ship to the shores of Estonia, where it was sunk by the fire of German batteries. According to another version, the ship was blown up by a mine. In 1945 the ship was raised and towed to Tallinn. According to various sources, in the same year it was butchered in Tallinn, according to others - in Polish Gdansk.
"Molotov", after the war, initially stood on the Leningrad - New York line, then was replaced by the "Russia" d / e. For some time, Molotov worked first in the Far East, and then in the Black Sea, after which he returned to the Baltic.

off the coast of Kamchatka, 1955

turboship "Vyacheslav Molotov" on the Black Sea

In 1957, the ship was renamed "Baltika". In the same years, N. S. Khrushchev made a visit to Great Britain on it.

turboship "Baltic" near Rendsburg, Kiel Canal, 1967

Already under the rule of L. I. Brezhnev, the ship fell into some kind of "disgrace" - Khrushchev's visit had an effect. After that, the ship for the most part works on the internal lines of the Baltic. In 1984, the Baltika turbo ship was decommissioned, and in 1987 it was cut into scrap metal in Denmark.

ship "Abkhazia" in Yalta, 1940

"Abkhazia" goes on a flight

June 1942, Sevastopol

As a trophy, the USSR received the unfinished motor ship MARIENBURG, the construction of which began in 1939. In 1955, he became part of the Cheromorsk Shipping Company under the name "Lensoviet", and in 1962 - another renaming - now "Abkhazia". Initially, the ship was built to work in the Baltic as a ferry between the ports of Germany and East Prussia. Cut into metal in 1980 in Barcelona, ​​Spain

"Abkhazia" in Sochi, 1972

1975 on the right is the false pipe "Victory"

"Victory" in Sochi, 70s. The ship was stripped for metal in 1977. We see "Victory" in the film "The Diamond Hand" - the hero of Yu. Nikulin boards the ship "Mikhail Svetlov" (in real life d/e "Russia"). And on the pier behind "Russia" is just "Victory" - the former German Iberia (not to be confused with Kunard's "namesake" built in 1954)

motor ships "Tajikistan" and "Victory" (right) in Yalta, 70s

There is no need to provide a photo of this vessel. "Mikhail Svetlov tu-tu", "Russo tourist, morale", "Our people don't go to the bakery by taxi" - of course - this is the Rossiya diesel-electric ship. As already noted, episodes of the foreign cruise of the film comedy "The Diamond Hand" were filmed on board the ship. In the film, the ship was called "Mikhail Svetlov".
Of all the captured liners of the USSR, "Russia" received in almost perfect condition.
The liner was built in Germany in 1938. This despite the fact that the keel of the liner was laid down in 1937. It took 14 months from the moment of bookmarking to the first flight! The liner was named "Patria" (Motherland). It is the Motherland, not Adolf Hitler. Once launched "duck" still roams the open spaces. But then, in 1938, Patria became the largest diesel-electric powered ship, a bold move for the time.

Patria in the Norwegian port of Hammerfirst. Photo of 1938 (from the collection of Ya. Pichenevsky)

In 1945, the ship was transferred to the USSR. After working for some time on the Leningrad-New York line (where she replaced Vyacheslav Molotov), ​​in 1948 Rossiya took the Odessa-Batumi line.

1948 The ship is already painted white

The diesel-electric ship was decommissioned in 1984, in 1985 the ship was sold for scrapping, by the end of 1985 it arrived in Singapore, from where it went to Japan for scrapping, where, apparently, by the end of 1986 it was dismantled.

motor ship "Ilyich" - the former German Caribia. In the Far East, as part of the FESCO, its sistership, Rus (ex Cordilera), also worked. Rus was decommissioned and sold for cutting in 1981, Ilyich - in 1983, cut in Japan at the end of 1984 in Japan.

"Rus" in Vladivostok

motor ship "Koperatsia"

"Cooperation" is one of the " last mohicans"The first merchant fleet of Soviet Russia. Built in 1928 in Leningrad, she first worked on the Leningrad-London line carrying passengers and cargo. During the war she became a military transport, in the post-war years she worked on different lines, repeatedly went to Beirut (these flights are described in the story of B. A. Remenya "In a foreign port, far from home") and Alexandria. In 1979, the ship was transferred to Interlighter and became a floating hostel. It stood on the site of the current port of Ust-Dunaysk. In 1987, the ship was sold for cutting and by the end of 1988 cut into metal in Egypt.

ship "Emperor Peter the Great"

Built in 1913. During the First World War, it was used as a hospital ship on the Black Sea. Subsequently, the steamer repeatedly worked in different basins. For some time he worked at FESCO (at that time it was called "Yakutia"). After returning to the Black Sea, the ship was returned to its original name - "Peter the Great". Broken down into metal in 1973.

In 1938, two liners of the same type were built at the Blom und Voss shipyard by order of Romania - Basarabia and Transilvania. After Romania capitulated, her fleet was divided. Basarabia remained in Romania, while Transilvania was transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed "Ukraine". The ship was decommissioned in 1987. In general, the 87th was the last for many old ships - the Nakhimov disaster affected. Basarabia was cut into metal already in the 90s.

Transilvania in Yalta, 1972

ship "Vologda"

Built in 1930 in Danzig. Worked on the North Sea. During the war - escort transport. In 1956, Wismar underwent modernization. Then he worked on the line Murmansk - Gremikha. Decommissioned in 1975 and used as a hotel. Broken down for metal in 1981.

after modernization in Wismar

Alas, of course, not all ships are here. Everything has its time.

Boris Vasilyevich Kurylev, who passed away in October last year, left a photo archive of passenger ships. Today, this photo archive has temporarily migrated to our office.

And from the photographs, river boats are looking at us passenger ships of the past. Wheel steamers of the 737 project are a milestone in the history of many Soviet river shipping companies. Now they are no longer in operation, and the century of most of them was short-lived - few of these ships served for more than thirty years. But at one time such vessels were widespread on many Russian rivers. And they were built in a large series in the 1950s, filling the need for shipping companies in the passenger fleet after the war. These ships were built first in the USSR, but most of them were built in Hungary.

Boris Vasilyevich photographed many of them during his travels along the river. I post some photos here. One could talk a lot about each ship, but I will limit myself to only small comments. The photo at the beginning of this material, taken in 1963, shows the Perm steamship of the Kama River Shipping Company.

Steamboat "Pavel Bazhov", 1960.

The ship "Vyacheslav Shishkov". The photo, apparently, was taken no later than the mid-sixties, because then the ship was transferred from the Kama Shipping Company to the Dnieper. There, in the early 1970s, he was commanded by Captain Vadim Mikhailovich Lapidus, who later moved to Leningrad and worked as a captain on the four-deck ships Alexander Ulyanov and Sergei Kirov. It was extraordinary interesting person remembered by everyone who had a chance to communicate with him. He is always remembered very fondly.

The ship "Yaroslav Galan" below Gorky, 1959.

Steamboat “V.A. Zhukovsky, Kostroma, June 9, 1965. Who lived at that time, can you remember what you did that day? Oddly enough, sometimes it works. You, for example, rested in Yalta. And the ship "Zhukovsky" at that time was approaching Kostroma with passengers. By the way, the Zhukovsky is a long-lived ship (of course, by the standards of this series): it was one of the last decommissioned in the European part of the USSR, after navigation in 1985. Almost all his life, the ship sailed along the passenger line Moscow - Ufa. Tickets for the steamers of the line could be bought at river ticket offices, including those in Moscow. And very simple. Here he came from the street and bought very inexpensively. Well, not always, of course, but if by chance there was an unallocated place in a six-seater cabin.

I could not help but scan "Mayakovsky", since photographs with him are a rarity. This ship worked for a very short time, and then disappeared.

The same - and with "Eduard Bagritsky". Like the Mayakovsky, this ship worked in the Volga-Don Shipping Company in the 1950s.

Steamboat "Vladimir Stavsky" in the Aksai EW, 1976. Here, a quarter of a century later, the legendary Volga steamships Volodarsky and Spartak ended their lives.

Steamboat "Kyiv", 1960.

Steamboat "Ivan Kadomtsev", July 1966, Gorky.

The ship "Anton Makarenko". This ship, unlike its counterparts, which were usually involved in transport lines, lived a "tourist" life. For many years "Anton Makarenko" worked on the "Moscow Round the World" and on other routes with tourists.

Steamboat "Volgograd" on the Moscow Canal.

Steamboat "Demyan Poor" on the Moscow River.

The steamer "40 years of the Komsomol" (former "Rybinsk"). Most likely, between 1962 (renaming of the ship) and 1964 (transfer of the ship to the Dnieper). That is, a rather rare frame on which the already renamed ship was captured back in the Volga basin.

Steamboat "A. Serafimovich", 1963.

Steamboat "Ufa". Together with V.A. Zhukovsky" this ship worked on the Moscow - Ufa line until 1985. And in the photo he is depicted in his youth, in 1961.

Steamboat "Sergeev-Tsensky" in Kasimov.

Steamboat “A.P. Chekhov, 1963. In the next navigation, he will go to the Dnieper.

Steamboat “A.F. Pisemsky" on the Moscow channel, August 2, 1972. What did you do that day? I wasn't born yet, but I planned to do so within the next few months. In general, if I am not mistaken, I was in Kyiv that day. That is, my mother was there, and, it turns out, that I was. However, since I have no idea how long before the birth the soul moves into the body, it is quite possible that on that day I was not in Kyiv, but enjoyed last days in the subtle worlds before the next incarnation. And, wow, at the same time, just like now, the Moscow Canal existed along with passenger steamers and joyful river travelers on the decks. There is a suspicion that all this will safely exist after us.

Steamboat “N.G. Pomyalovsky.

The ship "Sergey Alymov".

Steamboat “I.S. Nikitin.

Well, this is just a photo from the deck of the steamer 737 of the project approaching the pier.

Steamboat “K.M. Stanyukovich" from the deck of some ship of the same type. Today it is the only vessel of this type that has been preserved in a tolerable condition in the European part of Russia, but without any special prospects for work.

Steamboat "Vladimir Arseniev".

Steamship "Sverdlovsk"

The Ryazan steamer stood idle opposite the White Town for many years until it burned down. And in the photo he is alive and on a flight with passengers.

Here it is - in a perspective familiar to most river tourists. Suitable for Uglich.

The ship "Evgeny Petrov" departs from the Volga pier. And behind him, some diesel-electric ship 785 of the project approaches her.

Steamboat "Stalingrad" in Gorky. Later it was renamed Volgograd, and at that time it worked on the Moscow-Gorky passenger line. The line ran along the Moscow River and the Oka.

These are the photos of the steamships of the 737 project that have already become historical. Next time I will scan photos of ships of another series. Good evening!

Fundamental changes in the development of Soviet river transport took place during the first five-year plans.

The first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the country (1928-1932), adopted at the V Congress of Soviets, laid the foundation for the reconstruction and development of river transport. As a result of the implementation of the planned measures, major successes were achieved in the technical equipment of river transport. Its fixed assets more than doubled.
The length of the operated navigable river routes increased in 1932 to 84 thousand km, and those equipped with a navigable environment - up to 68.2 thousand km, including with illuminated - up to 47.3 thousand km. Ways with guaranteed depths amounted to 18.3 thousand km. The number of dredging shells has increased, and the efficiency of their work has increased. With the construction of the Dnieper dam with navigable locks, the Dnieper became navigable along its entire length - from the upper reaches to the Black Sea.
The Nizhne-Svirsky hydroelectric complex was also put into operation, which significantly improved navigation conditions on the river. Svir.
During the years of the first five-year plan, the construction of the White Sea-Baltic navigable canal began and was largely completed, and work began on the construction of a canal connecting the Volga with the Moscow* River.
One of the most important tasks of the first five-year plan is to replenish the transport fleet. A major achievement of domestic shipbuilding in this period should be considered the construction at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant of steamships with a capacity of 880 kW for towing oil barges along the Volga. The operational and economic indicators of these ships were much higher than those of pre-revolutionary ships of the same power. The construction of cargo ships began. So, in 1931, the plant built a series of ships with a carrying capacity of 3500 tons and a power of 560 kW, and the next year - a series with a carrying capacity of 2160 tons and a power of 360 kW.
Kolomna Plant began building wheeled towing motor ships with a capacity of 806 kW; other plants produced two series of screw tugs with a capacity of 1030 and 1100 kW for operation on the Ob and Yenisei.
Soviet specialists designed and built oil barges with a carrying capacity of 12,000 tons - the largest in the world.
It should also be noted the construction of fuel barges, which were of great importance for the national economy. By the end of 1931, 30 such fuel trucks with a total carrying capacity of 8.8 thousand tons were put into operation.

Dry-cargo ship of mixed (river-sea) navigation type "Sormovsky":
load capacity 3000 tons, power 970 kW, travel speed 19.2 km/h; specialization - transportation of grain, timber and pulverized cargoes; navigation area - main inland waterways and coastal areas of the seas

During the years of the first five-year plan, the beginning of the technical reconstruction of the fleet was laid. In March 1932, the All-Union Conference on the typification of the river fleet was held. Taking into account the dimensions of the track, the nature and mass of cargo flows, the main types of tankers and dry-cargo metal barges, wooden barges, tugs are determined, a grid of types of cargo-passenger ships is established.
The total capacity of river self-propelled vessels in 1932 increased by 54% compared to 1928, and the carrying capacity of non-self-propelled vessels increased by 81%.
The construction of the fleet required the development of a shipbuilding base. Existing shipyards and shipyards, large ship repair and shipbuilding plants were built - in Kotlas and Astrakhan, as well as Verkhne-Kamskaya, Kostroma, Verkhne-Dneprovskaya, Moscow, Pechora and Yenisei shipyards of wooden shipbuilding. Although the planned shipbuilding program was carried out with great difficulty and not in full, during the years of the first five-year plan, factories began to produce new types of ships.
The ship repair enterprises were given the task of radically improving the technical condition and use of the existing fleet, as well as replenishing the fleet of ships by restoring those decommissioned. This responsible work required the expansion and reorganization of the material and technical base. New workshops were built, workshops were reconstructed. The power equipment of enterprises increased, electric welding and oxy-fuel cutting and welding of metals were introduced, machine tools were updated.
By the beginning of the first five-year plan, there were practically no river ports with berths equipped with reloading mechanisms. Transshipment of goods was carried out mainly by hand. In July 1928, technical rules for reloading operations were introduced, aimed at improving the organization and working conditions of loaders; Since 1930, the production of port transshipment mechanisms has been established.
After the 16th Congress of the Communist Party (June 1930), more attention began to be paid to the mechanization of transshipment operations: funds were allocated for the development of the port and marina facilities, surveying and design work. In 1930, the construction of berths and other berth structures began in Gomel and Dnepropetrovsk, in 1931 - in Moscow, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Solikamsk, Kyiv, Kotlas, Kherson, Pechora, Novosibirsk, in 1932 - in Leningrad, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Saratov, Astrakhan and other cities. However, ports with modern equipment were built only in some places, in others - embankments were reconstructed or separate berths were created. By the end of 1931, 842 reloading mechanisms were operating on river transport; by the end of 1932 - 1141, mainly mobile light-type conveyors with a capacity of 25-50 t / h, and several cranes, mainly with a lifting capacity of 1.5 and 5 tons. Warehouses, elevators, and refrigerators were built at a number of points. During the years of the first five-year plan, the scientific and technical foundations for the development of the port and marina economy were also laid.
The management of the transport process was improved - ship traffic schedules were introduced, a new system for planning the work of the fleet. In 1930, for the first time in river transport, they began to use dispatch control of the movement of the fleet. However, the introduction of this system was hampered by the lack of necessary means of communication. Waterways were equipped with wired communications for only 5% of their length, including the rivers of Siberia were equipped with communications for 0.2%, and the rivers Central Asia and Transcaucasia did not have wired communications at all. In the second half of 1931 selector telephone communication began to function in the North-Western and Northern Shipping Companies. Then it spreads to the Volga, Kama, Oka, Dnieper, Don. Telephone exchanges of the Central Bank system appear on the rivers of the European part of the USSR. Radio communication was introduced mainly on the rivers of Siberia, Far East and Central Asia.

Container ship type "Bakhtemir":
load capacity 1000 tons, power 880 kW, travel speed 20.7 km/h; navigation area - inland waterways with access to coastal sea areas

In the first five-year plan, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Water Transport (TsNIIVT) and the State Institute for Design and Research on Water Transport (Giprovodtrans) were organized in Leningrad.
The development of river transport required a solution to the problem of leadership personnel. In 1930, the Gorky and Leningrad Institutes of Water Transport Engineers were established. From the first days of the foundation of the institutes, professors V. E. Lyakhnitsky, I. V. Yaropolsky, V. M. Makkaveev, M. F. Klochanov, B. Yu. Kalinovich, V. V. Zvonkov, Yu. P. Biryukov, I. A. Ponomarev, V. L. Lychkovsky, M. I. Volsky, I. N. Sivertsev, M. Ya. Alfer’ev, N. K. Ponomarev, G. V. Trinkler, etc. The Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers (MNIT) and the Plekhanov Moscow Institute of National Economy played a role in training command personnel for river transport.
The implementation of the technical reconstruction of river transport, the improvement of the management and organization of transportation made it possible to significantly increase the size of the transportation of goods and passengers. Carriage of goods in 1932 amounted to 44.3 million tons, or 142% of the 1913 level and 243% of the 1928 level. In addition, 20 million tons of timber was delivered along the rivers in self-propelled rafts. By the end of the first five-year plan, river transport Soviet Union in terms of traffic, it came out on top in Europe and second in the world, second only to US river transport. An extremely important restructuring was carried out organizational structure water transport management. From the composition of the People's Commissariat of Railways, the People's Commissariat of Water Transport - Narkomvod was allocated.
In the second five-year plan (1933-1937), the length waterways increased mainly due to the development of small rivers. By 1937, the length of the operated tracks was 101.1 thousand km, there was a situation on 89.9 thousand km, and illuminated on 57.6 thousand km; the length of sections with guaranteed depths amounted to 24.2 thousand km.
Work continued on the construction of canals. In June 1933, transit navigation was opened along the White Sea-Baltic Canal. way out Baltic Sea in Beloye, it was reduced by 4000 km and passed through the territory of only our country. The total length of the connecting route is 227 km; There are 19 locks on the route. The canal was built in record time - 20 months.
In July 1937, the movement of passenger and cargo ships along the Moscow-Volga canal, the length of which is 128 km. The construction of the canal was led by a talented hydraulic engineer S. Ya. Zhuk. In 1947, the channel was renamed the Moscow Canal.
With the commissioning of this canal, Moscow received a sustainable source of water supply; a main, deep-water route was created that connected Moscow with the Volga basin by the shortest route, and through the Volga and other systems - with the Baltic, White and Caspian Seas. The canal made it possible to bring oil, coal, metal, grain from the southern regions to the capital by water, and timber, building materials and other goods from the north; to export products of the Moscow industry to many regions of the country. The waterway from Moscow to Leningrad and Gorky was reduced by 1,100 and 110 km, respectively. In 1934, the construction of a sluice system with four waterworks on the river was completed. Sozh, which was of great importance for the national economy of Belarus.
In the second five-year plan, the construction of a series of ships, begun in previous years, continued; new types of ships were also built: double-deck cargo-passenger ships with a capacity of 300 kW for 500 passengers, cargo-passenger motor ships with a capacity of 515 and 210 kW of various passenger capacities (Sormovsky Plant) for the Moscow-Volga Canal, tugboats with a capacity of 110-220 kW, barges of various carrying capacities . Most of the metal ships had an all-welded hull, which made it possible to reduce construction time and metal consumption. In the total volume of construction of a non-self-propelled fleet, wooden shipbuilding accounted for another 86.7% (in terms of carrying capacity).

Closed hold barge - cement carrier. Designed for transportation of bulk cargo on the Volga and Kama rivers

To simplify shipbuilding technology, reduce costs and improve the operating conditions of ships, the People's Commissariat for Water Transport established the minimum number of types of ships to be built in 1936 and 1937: 16 types of self-propelled ships and 10 types of non-self-propelled ships.
But the need for courts was far from being fully covered. In this regard, much attention was paid to the further development of shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises, the expansion and creation of powerful ship repair bases in cargo generating points was carried out. the Moscow shipbuilding and ship repair plant was put into operation, in 1937 the Khlebnikov ship repair plant was reconstructed, plants on the Volga (Teplokhod, Balakovsky), on the Dnieper (Khersonsky), on the Kama (Chistopolsky and in memory of Dzerzhinsky), on the Yenisei (Krasnoyarsky) and etc. Shipyards for wooden shipbuilding are being built, which was due to an acute shortage of metal in the country. By the end of the second five-year plan, 185 enterprises are operating in river transport - shipyards, workshops and shipyards.
The construction of equipped berths in river ports continued, and the level of mechanization of transshipment operations increased. Berths were built in Leningrad, Moscow (in the Northern and Western ports), Gorky, Stalingrad, Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Ufa, Omsk, Novosibirsk and other cities. The number of cranes, conveyors and other mechanisms in river ports has more than doubled. The use of handling machines and equipment has improved. The mechanization of labor-intensive cargo work more than doubled - from 11.9% to 24.8%. However, the overall level of development of the port and marina economy remained low, which hindered the growth of the fleet's carrying capacity.
The dispatching system for managing the operation of the fleet was expanded. By 1936, the total length of the communication line had increased by 1.6 times compared to 1932. Large radio stations were put into operation in Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, Kuibyshev, Kamsky Ustye, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, which had a direct connection with Moscow.
In the second five-year plan, the Stakhanovite movement began in river transport. Among the crews of transport ships, the initiators of this movement were the crew of the towing oil carrier "Stepan Razin" (captain N. I. Chadaev and mechanic N. V. Banatov). In the navigation of 1935, the ship's crew for the first time conducted a train of barges side by side in the wake, with a total carrying capacity of 34 thousand tons, surpassing the performance of American oil carriers of equal power.
In 1933-1934. the transition to the navigational system began, which contributed to the improvement of the organization of the movement of the fleet.
The practice of work has shown that the functional construction of the management structure in river transport did not meet the conditions of those years. To manage the activities of shipping companies in the People's Commissariat for Water Transport, four central production and territorial administrations of river transport were formed: Volga-Kama, Northern, Southern and Eastern. The work of all transit ships, ports, wharves, factories, sections of the route and communications, construction organizations began to be managed by 24 shipping companies. Large marinas were entrusted with the management of local transportation.
Special attention in the second five-year plan was given to the development of water transport in eastern regions countries.
By the end of the five-year period, the volume of traffic amounted to 66.9 mln a ton, the freight turnover - 33.3 billion tons km.
In the third five-year plan (1938-1942), important tasks were set before the river fleet. The XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks emphasized that the main task in the field of transport is to increase the share of water transport in the country's total cargo turnover.
In 1939, in order to improve transport management, the People's Commissariat of Water Transport was divided into the People's Commissariat of the USSR River Fleet and the People's Commissariat of the USSR Marine Fleet. The creation of the People's Commissariat of River Fleet was an important prerequisite for improving the operation of river transport and maximizing the use of its internal reserves. The People's Commissariat of the River Fleet included 33 river shipping companies, 20 basin track departments, 20 shipping inspections and 14 inspections of the USSR River Register, a number of large factories.

Three-deck car carrier barge. Carries up to 440 cars "Moskvich", "Zhiguli"

The third five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR provided for the further development of river transport, including the reconstruction of waterways and bringing them in line with the requirements of navigation, the development of flow control schemes to improve navigation conditions on the Volga, Don and Dnieper rivers.
During the years of the third five-year plan, the Rybinsky, Uglichsky and Kuibyshevsky (due to the war construction was suspended) hydroelectric facilities were built. In the spring of 1941, the filling of the Rybinsk reservoir began. The section of the Volga from Uglich to Rybinsk also became deep-water, and the water regime of the Upper and Middle Volga became regulated. Construction work was also carried out on the western section of the Manych waterway, the Dniester, Kuban and other rivers.
In 1940, instead of the old Dnieper-Bug water system, a new lockable Dnieper-Bug canal 210 km long was built, connecting Pripyat (near Pinsk) with the Western Bug (near Brest).
In 1938-1940. The Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route were transferred to the People's Commissariat of River Fleet for the operation of the lower reaches of the Ob, Taza and Pura rivers, the Ob and Tazov bays, the river. Yenisei with tributaries (from Igarka to Dixon), r. Piasina with tributaries.
The length of navigable routes in 1940 reached 98.1 thousand km. Taking into account the river routes operated by other organizations, by the end of 1940, it amounted to 108.9 thousand km, including 101.3 thousand km with a navigable situation, of which 69.6 thousand km were illuminated.
As a result of the construction of large hydraulic structures, the formation of reservoirs and changes in navigation conditions, a need arose for the reconstruction of the river fleet, the production of new types of ships.
The creation in the spring of 1939 of the Technical Department and the independent River Register of the USSR as part of the People's Commissariat of River Fleet, and the Technical Council under the People's Commissar was aimed at raising the level of development of the material and technical base of the industry and, first of all, the transport fleet. At the beginning of the five-year plan, the main directions for the technical reconstruction of the fleet were developed, providing for a reduction in the construction cost of ships, an increase in their speed, the introduction of more advanced types of power plants, an improvement in the contours of the hull, etc. The task was to increase the share of self-propelled cargo fleet, including screw ships , as part of a non-self-propelled fleet - metal barges.
Since the end of 1939, the construction of river vessels at the factories of the People's Commissariat for River Fleet has been expanding. In total for 1938-1941. for river transport, 352 self-propelled vessels (including boats and gas ducts) with a total capacity of 47.7 thousand kW were built; the carrying capacity of the built non-self-propelled fleet amounted to 810.5 thousand tons (85% - wooden). However, in general, the level of development of the fleet did not yet fully meet the challenges facing river transport.
The port and marina economy still held back the growth of transportation work. It was necessary to further develop the ports, increase their mechanical capacity.
During the years of the third five-year plan, the construction of ports in Moscow, berths in Gorky, Stalingrad, the reconstruction of the Leningrad port, and the construction of a transshipment point in Voznesenye continued. From the end of 1940, preparatory work began for the construction and re-equipment of the ports of Kotlas, Arkhangelsk, and others.
AT southern basins berths for bulk cargo were built in Kyiv, a transshipment point in Dneprodzerzhinsk, a pier in Chardzhou.
In the regions of Siberia and the Far North, river berths were built on the Yenisei - in Igarka, Dudinka and Krasnoyarsk, cargo berths in Novosibirsk and on the Angara.
The People's Commissariat of River Fleet expanded the production of mechanisms for reloading operations at its enterprises. Floating loaders, bilge lifts, pneumatic grain loaders appeared. The technology of reloading operations was improved, mechanization was introduced for reloading coal, salt, grain, and timber.
During the years of the third five-year plan, certain successes were achieved in the construction of ports, wharves and their equipment. However, a significant reduction in the gap between the carrying capacity

Pusher-tug of the type "Marshal Blucher":
power 2940 kW, speed with a composition of 15.7 km/h, purpose - pushing and towing heavy-duty trains along the main rivers of the central basins

the fleet and the capacity of ports-marinas did not happen. The level of development of this branch of the economy of river transport was still low. In 1940, with a total length of the berthing front of 114 km, capital berths (reinforced concrete and stone walls) were only 6.9 km.
In 1939, more than half of the waterways of the central basins were provided with selector telephone communications. Almost all shipping companies had telephone exchanges. At the end of 1940, the Communications Directorate of the People's Commissariat of River Fleet developed a broad program for the further development of communications, according to which work began on the Volga on the suspension of bimetallic chains, which made it possible to carry out multi-channel high-frequency communications along the entire length from Moscow to Astrakhan; on the Dnieper, the same work was carried out on the Kyiv-Kherson section. All main radio links were transferred to simultaneous transmissions in two opposite directions. However, despite significant work on the development of communications, in many shipping companies they were not enough.
Work was carried out to rationalize transportation. Elements of the route system of transportation were introduced, providing for the formation of trains according to the type of cargo and the draft of ships in order to ensure non-transshipment movement from the point of departure to the point of destination. The route system required precise observance of schedules and timetables for the movement of ships, and greatly simplified the dispatching management. By the end of navigation in 1939, the route system was introduced for the transportation of oil along the Volga, and then other bulk cargo - grain, coal, cement.
In the navigation of 1940, non-stop servicing of the transport fleet on the move began to develop - the supply of fuel, lubricants, inventory, etc., using self-propelled auxiliary vessels. This contributed to the improvement of the use of the fleet, increasing its carrying capacity.
In the prewar years, the dispatching system for managing the transport process became clearer and more efficient, and the Regulations on the Organization and Dispatching Management of the Movement and Operation of the River Transport Fleet were introduced (1939). Strict implementation of the timetable and traffic schedule has become the main task of river transport workers.
Since 1939, there has been a significant increase in traffic. River transport mainly provided for the needs of the national economy, the transportation of goods in a mixed railway-water transport increased, which in 1940 reached 5.7 million tons. The structure of transportation has changed significantly. In general, the share of bulk carriers increased, especially mineral building materials - sand, gravel, stone, and cement, which was associated with a large scale of industrial and civil construction.
Number of passengers carried river transport, increased from 1937 to 1940 by 15.8%, and passenger traffic - by 18.7%. Passenger service has improved significantly.
During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, the length of the operated waterways increased significantly, their equipment with a technical fleet increased, the depths on the main rivers increased significantly, a number of artificial waterways were created - canals that connected the basins of individual rivers. The transport fleet has been significantly replenished - the number of self-propelled ships has increased by 2.4 times compared with 1928, and non-self-propelled - by almost 3 times.
The industrial base of the industry has expanded. Instead of the old semi-handicraft workshops, more than 200 large enterprises have been created, capable of not only repairing, but also building ships.
Ports have been established in a number of large coastal cities; the share of mechanized cargo handling has increased 14 times over the years of the five-year plans.
The use of the navy has improved considerably, aided by new forms of labor organization, the initiative of leading ship teams, and the development of socialist emulation.
The material well-being of the rivermen increased: workers' supply bodies were created, housing and cultural and household construction expanded; revised salary system, etc.

Pusher-tug for the rivers of the eastern basins:
power 1765 kW, speed with train 15 km/h, purpose - pushing and towing trains weighing up to 18 thousand tons on the rivers Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, Amur

A lot of work was done to train engineering and technical personnel, and the training of qualified personnel for mass professions improved.

The river arteries of the Far North were mastered: Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, Khatanga, the mouth of the Lena. Transportation increased in the basins of the Ob and Yenisei rivers. Navigation was expanded in remote basins: on the Amur, Ili, Amu Darya, Selenga, Upper Irtysh, Ural, Pechora, Balkhash and Issyk-Kul lakes.

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