‘Admiral Sierpinek’ in 1930.
Public DomainSuch was the incredible fate of the Russian passenger steamship ‘Tatiana’. In 1919, the Bolsheviks converted it into a seaplane carrier.
During the Soviet-Polish war, the ship was seized by the Polish army, who used it as a military transport, but, on July 25, 1920, during a retreat, the Poles were forced to sink it.
The Soviets recovered the ship and returned it to service, but they also had to send it to the bottom of the sea during one of their own retreats. In 1921, the former steamship came back to the surface, yet again. After repairs, it joined the Polish navy as the staff ship ‘Admiral Sierpinek’. It was given this name in honor of the 16th century Polish privateer Mateusz Szarping (Sierpinek).
On September 17, 1939, when the Red Army entered eastern Poland, the long-suffering ship was sunk by its crew. However, it was not destined to rest on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The Russians again recovered it and incorporated it under the name ‘Pripyat’ in the Pinsk naval flotilla.
In September 1941, the Red Army, retreating from Kiev, blew up and sank ‘Pripyat’. Three years later, the unfortunate ship was yet again raised from the bottom, but this time, only to be scrapped, at last.
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