Donbass (ship)

History
Soviet Union
NameDonbass
NamesakeDonbas
OwnerNorthern Fleet
Operator
Port of registryMurmansk (1941–1942)
BuilderAndré Marti Shipyard No. 198
Laid down1930
LaunchedNovember 1932[1]
Completed1935
FateTorpedoed and sunk, 7 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and typeEmba-class tanker
Tonnage
Length140.12 m (459 ft 9 in)
Beam17.94 m (58 ft 10 in)
Draught8.45 m (27 ft 9 in)
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 diesel engines
Speed12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Crew63

Donbass (Russian: Донбасс) was a Soviet Emba-class tanker sunk by the German destroyer Z27 on 7 November 1942, when it was on its way from Arkhangelsk to Reykjavík.[2]

The case aroused considerable later interest due to the widely held assertion that the Soviet spy Arnold Deutsch was among the passengers killed in the attack, and that he was at the time bound for an espionage mission in the Western Hemisphere.[3]

Legacy

[edit]

Three American tankers received by the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease were renamed in her honor.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Информация о танкере "Донбасс" из неопубликованной рукописи С.С. Бережного (in Russian). Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. ^ Volodarsky, Boris (2015). "Dr Arnold Deutsch". Stalin's Agent: The Life and Death of Alexander Orlov. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 488. ISBN 978-0-19-965658-5.
  3. ^ Memoires of Rufina Ivanova Pukhova, Kim Philby's last wife Rufina Philby (2003). The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years. ISBN 0-9536151-6-2.
  4. ^ "ДОНБАСС" (in Russian). Retrieved 7 November 2017.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Jordan, Roger W. (1999). The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 ships. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-023-X.
[edit]