SS Albert Ballin

SS Albert Ballin pulling in to port on September 27th 1923
History
Germany
Name:	Albert Ballin
Namesake:	Albert Ballin
Owner:	Hamburg-America Line
Builder:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Launched:	16 December 1922
Maiden voyage:	5 July 1923
History
Nazi Germany
Name:	Hansa
In service:	31 October 1935
Sunk:	6 March 1945, Warnemünde
History
Soviet Union
Name:	Sovetskiy Soyuz (translate as "Soviet Union") (1953-1980)
Raised:	1949
Name:	Tobolsk (1980-1982)
Fate:	scrapped 1982
General characteristics (1923)
Tonnage:	20,815 gross tons
Length:	602.4ft
Beam:	78.7ft
Speed:	16 knots
Capacity:	1650 passengers

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 committed suicide 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. 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 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 Sovetskiy Soyuz (Russian: Советский Союз; meaning Soviet Union), becoming the largest passenger ship operating under the Soviet flag. From 1955 she operated between Vladivostok and points in the Far East. Renamed Tobolsk in 1980, she sailed under that name for only a year before being scrapped.