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Motor ships of the type "Borodino"

Ship Types / Passenger Ships of Distant Sail

Motor ships of the type "Borodino" were the first screw passenger motor ships and the first big series of river passenger ships in Russia. Ships were built on order of Volga steamship society "Kaukas and Mercury" to work on the daily postal-passenger line between Nizhniy Novgorod and Astrakhan. The total of 14 units was planned to build since 1911, however only 11 units were finished before 1917. Motor ships were equiped with two 6-cylinder diesels of engineer Arshaulov's design and several other technical decisions, new for that time. Ships had comfortable passenger premises of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes. Ships of the series slightly differed from the leading ship and from each other constructively and outwardly.

During the civil war ships of this series were used for servicing the Red Army at the Tsaritsin front. Motor ship "Erzerum" (later "Lenin") was used as a headquarters ship of Astrakhan-Caspian (then Volga-Caspian) fleet; as in some sources, it burned down in Tsaritsin in 1920.

During the world war II ships took part in evacuation of people and wounded soldiers from Stalingrad and carried military cargoes. Motor ships "Krasnoarmeets", "Ilyich" and "Akademik Timiryazev" died under the german fire during the Stalingrad battle in 1942. Motor ship "Karl Libknekht" was damaged by the mine and sank near Stalingrad in 1943.

Since 1951 till 1954 6 motor ships of this series which remained in service were rebuilt in Astrakhan. They got more modern equipment, new superstructure and funnel. The reconstructed motor ships were operated by Volga Shipping Company on transport passenger line Gorkiy - Astrakhan. Later ships undergone further modernizations, when the wheel-houses were replaced. Motor ships "Semnadtsatyy god" and "25 Oktyabrya" burned down while laid up in Astrakhan during winter in 1978, the rest worked on the line till late 80-ties, when they were written off. Motor ship "Borodino" was transferred to Kazan port in 1986 for using as a brandwacht; scrapped till 1997. In 90-ties motor ship "Parizhskaya Kommuna" was laid up in Khlebnikovo (Moscow Region). Then in was moved to Belyy Gorodok, where burned down in 1999. Present location of the motor ships "Uritskiy" and "Pamyat tov. Markina" after they were written off is not known.

Series history
BORODINO	1911	ex MIKOYAN (1939); ex TOVARISHCH RASKOLNIKOV (1918); ex BORODINO; parts of the hull remain in Kazan	1997
KRASNOARMEETS	1912	ex FELDMARSHAL KUTUZOV; lost in Stalingrad	1942
PAMYAT TOV. MARKINA	1912	ex BAGRATION; location after 1990 unknown
SEMNADTSATYY GOD	1912	ex GOD OKTYABRSKOY REVOLYUTSYI (1918); ex DVENADTSATYY GOD; burned in Astrakhan	1978
ILYICH	1913	ex MIKHAIL TOMSKIY; ex KRASNAYA LATVIYA; ex INZHENER RAYMUND KOREYVO (1917); ex TSESAREVICH ALEKSEY; lost in Stalingrad	1942
URITSKIY	1913	ex TSARGRAD; location after 1989 unknown
25 OKTYABRYA	1914	ex KIEV (1917); ex TSAR MIKHAIL; burned in Astrakhan	1978
PARIZHSKAYA KOMMUNA	1915	ex FRIDRIKH ADLER (1919); ex PETROGRAD (1917); ex TSAR IOANN GROZNYY; burned down in Belyy Gorodok	1999
KARL LIBKNEKHT	1916	ex KOROL ALBERT; lost in Stalingrad	1943
LENIN	1916	ex ERZERUM (1917); ex VELIKIY KNYAZ NIKOLAY NIKOLAEVICH; burned down in Tsaritsyn (?)	1920
AKADEMIK TIMIRYAZEV	1917	ex LEV TROTSKIY; ex VADIM ARSHAULOV; lost in Stalingrad	1942

For the ships listed the years of built, renaming years (in brackets, where known) and years when the ships finished their existance are shown. The ships which were not rebuilt in 50-ties are marked gray.