SS Maxim Gorkiy

TS Maxim Gorkiy in Helsinki, Finland in June 2006.
History
Name:	1969—1973: Hamburg 1973—1974: Hanseatic 1974—1992: Maksim Gorkiy 1992—2009: Maxim Gorkiy
Namesake:	The city of Hamburg (1st name) The Hanseatic League (2nd name) Maxim Gorky (3rd name)
Owner:	1969—1974: German Atlantic Line 1974—1992: Black Sea Shipping Company 1992—1996: Belata Shipping 1996—2008: Maxim Gorkiy Shipping Co (Sovcomflot) 2008—2009: Orient Lines
Operator:	1969—1973: German Atlantic Line 1973—1974: laid up 1974—1988: Black Sea Shipping Company 1988—2008: Phoenix Reisen
Port of registry:	1969—1974: Hamburg,  West Germany 1974—1992: Odessa,  Soviet Union 1992—2009: Nassau,  Bahamas
Ordered:	November 1966
Builder:	Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany
Cost:	£ 5.6 million
Yard number:	825
Launched:	21 February 1968
Acquired:	20 March 1969
Maiden voyage:	28 March 1969
In service:	28 March 1969
Identification:	IMO number: 6810627
Fate:	Scrapped in Alang, India
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Ocean liner/cruise ship
Tonnage:	25,022 GRT 5,677 DWT
Length:	194.72 m (638 ft 10 in)
Beam:	26.57 m (87 ft 2 in)
Draught:	8.27 m (27 ft 2 in)
Depth:	16.40 m (53 ft 10 in)
Ice class:	1 A
Installed power:	2 × AEG steam turbines 16,668 kW (combined)
Propulsion:	Twin propellers
Speed:	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity:	790 in planned liner service 652 in cruise service
General characteristics (2006)
Type:	Cruise ship
Tonnage:	24,981 GT 5,800 DWT
Decks:	10 (passenger accessible)
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity:	788 passengers
Crew:	340

TS Maxim Gorkiy was, until 30 November 2008, a cruise ship owned by Sovcomflot, Russia, under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen, Germany. She was built in 1969 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany for the German Atlantic Line as TS Hamburg. In late 1973 she was very briefly renamed TS Hanseatic. The following year she was sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union and received the name Maksim Gorkiy in honour of the poet Maxim Gorky, renamed to Maxim Gorkiy after collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. On 20 August 2008 Maxim Gorkiy was sold to Orient Lines. She was due to enter service with her new owners on 15 April 2009 under the name TS Marco Polo II, but in November 2008 the relaunch of the Orient Lines brand was cancelled. On 8 January 2009 the ship was sold for scrap, and she was beached at Alang, India on 26 February 2009.

Although never used as such, the ship was originally planned as a dual ocean liner/cruise ship, for service between Hamburg and New York City as well as cruising. She was the first major passenger liner built in Germany since 1938. On entering service for the Black Sea Shipping Company, she became the first four-star cruise ship operated under the Soviet flag.

Several variants of the ship's name were used through her career. Some sources refer to her with the prefix TS (turbine ship) instead of SS (steamship), while her final name Maxim Gorkiy was also written as Maksim Gorkiy and Maxim Gorki. She should not be confused with any of the Soviet era cruise liners of the Ivan Franko-class, the so-called "poet" or "writer" class, including the current MS Marco Polo.