Built as a passenger cargo vessel under yard No 159 by Cantiere del Mediterraneo at Pietra Ligure, Italy for Ignazio Messina & Co., Italy for a service between Italy to the Eastern Mediterranean ports, but due to financial difficulties between owner and yard, the ships were completed for the Russian Government.
26 February 1952 launched as the TOBOLSK, one sister the NORILSK.
Tonnage 3,498 grt, 2,523 net, 2,242 dwt. Dim 101.8 x 14.2 x 8.1m.
Powered by two 6-cyl Fiat diesel engines, each 1,500 bhp, twin shafts, speed 13 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 274 passengers, crew 86.
Cargo capacity 2,572 m³ grain.
April 1952 delivered.
Managed by Far-Eastern Shipping Co., Vladivostok, and used on the Pacific coast of the Soviet Union from Vladivostok.
1959 She repatriated Chinese war prisoners from Japan back to China.
1975 Scrapped in the USSR.
North Korea 1964 10ch sgN535, scott? (Watercraft Philately gives her also on 1960 10ch and 1964 30ch)
Images supplied by Mr. Sitnikov, with thanks.
Source: Log Book and various internet sites.