MS Ukraina

MS Ukraina was one of six Soviet s during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. She was sunk by German aircraft in July.

Description

The four ships built in Leningrad were shorter than the pair built in Germany, but had more powerful engines. Ukraina had an overall length of, with a beam of and a draught of. She had two decks and a depth of hold of. The ship was assessed at,, and. She had a pair of six-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engines, each driving a screw propeller, and the engines were rated at a total of 1,374 nominal horsepower. Sources differ about her maximum speed, quoting speeds of or. The ship had a designed capacity of 450 passengers.

Construction and career

Ukraina was one of the four ships in the class that were constructed in 1928 at the Baltic Works shipyard in Leningrad. After completion the ship was assigned to the Black Sea State Shipping Company by Sovtorgflot with its port of registry at Odessa.
After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 by Nazi Germany and its allies, Ukraina was used for military tasks. The ship arrived in Odessa on 14 October to begin loading the city's defenders and reached Sevastopol on the 16th without damage despite repeated German air attacks.
Ukraina was sunk by German bombers of the First Group of Bomber Wing 76 in Novorossiysk harbour on 2 July 1942.