SS Albert Ballin

SS "Albert Ballin" was an ocean liner of the Hamburg-America Line launched in 1923 and named after Albert Ballin, visionary director of the line who had killed himself in despair several years earlier.

"Albert Ballin" was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, and served on the Hamburg-New York City route. In 1928 a tourist class was added, and in 1929 a re-engining upped the speed to 19 knots. In 1934 she was lengthened by 50 feet, and speed again bumped, to 21.5 knots.

In 1935 the new Nazi 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, but on 6 March hit a mine off Warnemünde and sank.

The wreck was raised and rebuilt by the Soviet Union around 1949, and renamed "Sovietsky Sojus" (or "Sovetsky Sojus"), becoming the largest passenger ship operating under the Soviet flag. From 1955 she operated between Vladivostok and points in the Far East. Renamed "Soyuz" in 1980, she sailed under that name for only a year before being scrapped.

References

* Citation
last = Bonsor
first = N.R.P.
title = North Atlantic seaway : an illustrated history of the passenger services linking the Old World with the New in four volumes
isbn = 9780715364017
oclc = 1891992
year = 1975
publisher = Arco
publication-place = New York
* Citation
last = Haws
first = Duncan
series = Merchant fleets in profile
volume = 4
title = The ships of the Hamburg America, Adler and Carr lines
publisher = Stephens
publication-place = Cambridge
year = 1980
oclc = 60073185
* Citation
last = Swiggum
first = S.
last2 = Kohli
first2 = M.
title = TheShipsList
url = http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsA.html#albertballin
accessdate = 2008-07-02