Sunk:	6 March 1945, Warnemünde Warnemünde Warnemünde is a sea resort and northmost district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated on the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Germany at the estuary of the river Warnow.- History :...
Raised:	1949

SS Albert Ballin was an ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 of the Hamburg-America Line launched in 1923 and named after Albert Ballin

Albert Ballin

Albert Ballin was a German businessman. He was born into a modest Jewish family of Hamburg with origins in Denmark.- Business :...

, visionary director of the line who had killed himself in despair several years earlier.

Albert Ballin was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, and served on the Hamburg-New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 route. In 1928 a tourist class was added. Originally built as a 16 knot ship, the engines were replaced in 1929 resulting in a speed of 19 knots. In 1934 she was lengthened by 50 feet, and speed increased again, this time to 21.5 knots.

In 1935 the new Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 government ordered the ship renamed to Hansa (Ballin having been Jewish). Hansa's last Atlantic crossing was in 1939. In 1945, she was employed to evacuate Gdynia

Gdynia

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...

, but on 6 March hit a mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 off Warnemünde

Warnemünde

Warnemünde is a sea resort and northmost district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated on the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Germany at the estuary of the river Warnow.- History :...

 and sank.

The wreck was raised and rebuilt by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 around 1949, and renamed Sovetsky Soyuz ' onMouseout='HidePop("97158")' href="/topics/Soviet_Union">Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

), becoming the largest passenger ship operating under the Soviet flag. From 1955 she operated between Vladivostok

Vladivostok

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

 and points in the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

. Renamed Soyuz in 1980, she sailed under that name for only a year before being scrapped.