''Ryazan'' (russian: Рязань) was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Licentia'' in 1944 by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft,

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, Germany for J Jost, Flensburg. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed ''Empire Gabon''. Allocated to the Soviet Union in 1946, she served until 1979 when she was sold to West Germany and renamed ''Rudi''. She was scrapped at Santander, Spain that year.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . She was assessed as , , . The ship was propelled by a compound steam engine, which had two cylinders of 42 cm (16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (35 inches) diameter by 90 cm (35 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Flensberger Schiffsbau-Geschellschaft. Rated at 1,200

IHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

, it could propel the ship at .

History

''Licentia'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1944 as yard number 467 by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft,

, Germany for J Jost, Flensburg. She was launched on 19 August 1944 and completed on 14 November. ''Licentia'' was seized as a prize of war at Flensburg in May 1945, and was passed to the Ministry of War Transport. She was renamed ''Empire Gabon''. The

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

GNFX and United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

180675 were allocated. Her port of registry was London and she was operated under the management of Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

, Yorkshire. In 1946, ''Empire Gabon'' was allocated to the Soviet Union. She was renamed ''Ryazan''. Her port of registry was

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

and the

UKED were allocated. On 12 November 1956, dockers at Liverpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom refused to work on ''Ryazan'', which had arrived from Riga and was to load a cargo of rubber. They were angry at the situation in Hungary. The dockers refused to load her cargo on to a Danish ship, saying "we won't handle any cargo for Russia". ''Ryazan'' sailed for Riga on 19 November. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Ryazan'' was allocated the IMO Number 5294113. She served until 1979, when she was sold to Echkardt & Co., Hamburg, West Germany and was renamed ''Rudi''. She was scrapped in 1979 at Santander, Spain.

References

External links

Photograph of ''Empire Gabon''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryazan 1944 ships Ships built in the Netherlands World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the Soviet Union Steamships of the Soviet Union Murmansk Shipping Company