View source for MS Gruziya

{|{{Infobox ship begin |infobox caption=}} <!-- commercial vessels --><!---->
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Soviet Union}}
|Ship name=''Gruziya''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=[[Black Sea Shipping Company|Black Sea State Shipping Company]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=[[Odessa]], [[Soviet Union]]
|Ship route= 
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft]], [[Kiel]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship completed=1928
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=1928
|Ship out of service=
|Ship identification=
|Ship fate=Sunk by German aircraft, 13 June 1942
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Krim|ocean liner}}
|Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|4,857|disp=long}}
*{{NRT|2625|disp=long}}
*{{DWT|1520|disp=long}}
|Ship length={{cvt|380|ft|2|in|m|1|disp=flip}}
|Ship beam={{cvt|51|ft|1|in|m|1|disp=flip}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught={{cvt|19|ft|m|1|disp=flip}}
|Ship draft=
|Ship depth={{cvt|25.3|ft|m|1|disp=flip}}
|Ship armament=
|Ship decks=2
|Ship power=1,163 [[nominal horsepower|nhp]]
|Ship propulsion=2 [[screw propeller]]s; 2 [[diesel engine]]s
|Ship speed={{convert|13|or|15|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship capacity=450 passengers
|Ship crew=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''MS ''Gruziya''''' was one of six [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] {{sclass|Krim|ocean liner}}s during the late 1920s built for the [[Black Sea Shipping Company|Black Sea State Shipping Company]]. During the [[Second World War]], she participated in the [[Siege of Odessa (1941)|Siege of Odessa]] in 1941 and the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)|Siege of Sevastopol]] in 1942. The ship was sunk by a German bomber en route to the latter port in June; there were no survivors.

== Construction ==
''Gruziya'' was one of the two ships in the class that was constructed in 1928 at the [[Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft]] [[shipyard]] in [[Kiel]], [[Germany]]. The ship had an [[overall length]] of {{convert|380|ft|2|in|m|1|disp=flip}}, with a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|51|ft|1|in|m|1|disp=flip}} and a [[draft (hull)|draught]] of {{convert|19|ft|m|1|disp=flip}}.<ref name=j6/> She had two [[deck (ship)|deck]]s and a [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#D|depth of hold]] of {{convert|25.3|ft|m|1|disp=flip}}. The ship was assessed at {{GRT|4,857|disp=long}}, {{NRT|2661|disp=long}},<ref name=ESM/> and {{DWT|1520|disp=long}}.<ref name=j6>Jordan, p. 376</ref> She had a pair of six-cylinder,<ref name=ESM/> [[MAN SE|M.A.N.]] [[two-stroke diesel engine]]s, each driving a [[screw propeller]],<ref name=w2/> and the engines were rated at a total of 1,163 [[nominal horsepower]].<ref name=ESM>{{cite book |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |date=1937 |publisher=Lloyd's of London|volume=II: Steamers and Motorships of 300 Tons Gross and over |location=London |edition=1937–1938 |url=https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/37/37b0352.pdf |access-date=17 November 2022}}</ref> Sources differ about her maximum speed, quoting speeds of {{convert|13|kn|lk=in}}<ref name=j6/> or {{convert|15|kn}}.<ref name=w2/> The ship had a designed capacity of 450 passengers.<ref name=w2>Wilson, p. 20</ref>

== Operations ==
After completion ''Gruziya'' was assigned to the Black Sea State Shipping Company by [[Sovtorgflot]] with its [[port of registry]] at [[Odessa]].<ref name=ESM/><ref name=j6/>

After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) by Nazi Germany and its allies, ''Gruziya'' was used for military tasks. On 16–21 September, she served as a [[troopship]] ferrying part of the [[157th Infantry Division (Soviet Union)|157th Infantry Division]] from [[Novorossiysk]], to Odessa. A day after commencing the voyage, the convoy of which she was a part was fruitlessly attacked by German aircraft. The following month, the ship arrived in Odessa on 14 October in preparation to evacuate the city's defenders and was damaged by a German bomber. ''Gruziya'' loaded some troops and the convoy of which she was a part arrived at [[Sevastopol]] on the 16th despite repeated German air attacks.<ref>Rohwer, pp. 100, 108</ref>

After repairs were completed, the liner transported troops and supplies to the besieged garrison of Sevastopol on 18 and 20 May 1942 and evacuated wounded men on the return voyage. ''Gruziya'' and the [[destroyer]] {{ship|Soviet destroyer|Tashkent||2}} ferried 2,734 reinforcements to Sevastopol and transported 1,200 wounded on 28 May. Together with the [[minesweeper]] ''T-401/Tral'' and four [[patrol boat]]s, the ship took 750 troops to Sevastopol and evacuated 850 wounded men and 724 civilians on 7 June.<ref>Rohwer, pp. 166, 169–170</ref>

On the night of 12/13 June, ''Gruziya'' was bound for Sevastopol with a cargo of ammunition on board that included chemical shells filled with [[Lewisite]] and [[mustard gas]]. Escorted by a pair of minesweepers, she was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian [[MAS (motorboat)|MAS boats]]. The following morning the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb landed in the aft cargo hold where all the ammunition was stored, detonating it. The resulting explosion blew the ship in half; there were no survivors.<ref>Rohwer, p. 172; Forczyk, pp. 160–161</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=Roger W. |title=The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 ships |date=1999 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-86176-023-X}}
*{{cite book |last1=Forczyk |first1=Robert |title=Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-44 |date=2014 |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-78200-625-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005 |edition=Third Revised |isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
*{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Edward A. |title=Soviet Passenger Ships, 1917–1977 |date=1978 |publisher=World Ship Society |location=Kendal, UK |isbn=0-905617-04-5}}

{{June 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|Black Sea}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruziya}}
[[Category:Ships built in Kiel]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft]]
[[Category:World War II passenger ships of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1942]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Black Sea]]