MS Birka Princess
Sea Diamond at Rhodes, Greece
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| History | |
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| Ordered: | 16 April 1984 |
| Builder: | Valmet, Vuosaari shipyard, Helsinki, Finland |
| Cost: | 350 million finnish markka |
| Yard number: | 321 |
| Laid down: | 1984 |
| Launched: | 29 October 1985 |
| In service: | April 1986 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | Ran aground and sank in 2007 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type: | Cruiseferry |
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| Length: | 142.95 m (469 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 24.70 m (81 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.75 m (19 ft) |
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| General characteristics (after 2006 refit) | |
| Type: | Cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 22,412 GT |
| Capacity: |
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| Notes: | Otherwise same as built |
MS Sea Diamond was a cruise ship operated by Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines. She was built in 1984 by Valmet, Finland for Birka Line as Birka Princess. The ship sank on April 5, 2007, after running aground near the Greek island of Santorini the previous day, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead.
Originally named Birka Princess, the ship was built by the Finnish state-owned company Valmet at their Vuosaari shipyard in Helsinki at a cost of 350 million Finnish markka (€58,9 million). She was delivered in 1986 and operated for Birka Line in the Baltic Sea cruiseferry market, sailing on 24-hour cruises between in Sweden and the Åland Islands in Finland. Between 1990 and 2003 she also made longer cruises around the Baltic Sea during the summer season.
Between 1992 and 2002, the ship's exterior was used to portray the fictional ship MS Freja in the Swedish TV soap opera Rederiet.
As built, she had a small car deck, with space for 80 passenger cars and a ramp on the port side in the rear. Like most cruiseferries in the Baltic Sea, she was built to ice class 1A.
In 1999 she was extensively refitted at Lloyd Werft in Germany at a cost of approximately US$26 million. The fore superstructure was extended and streamlined and 62 new passenger cabins were added, including a new deck of cabins above the bridge. In October 2004, when the new MS Birka Paradise was delivered, the Birka Princess started making two-night cruises from Stockholm to Turku, Helsinki and Tallinn, as well one weekly 24-hour cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn. The new itineraries proved largely unsuccessful, and on January 2, 2006, the ship was laid up in Mariehamn and put up for sale.
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