Biruinţa

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Ship name	Histria Crown
Earlier names	Biruinţa, Iris Star
Type of Vessel	crude oil tanker
Summer DWT	164,004 metric tons of deadweight (DWT)
Built	1984
Builders	NAVOL Romania, Constanţa, Romania
Flag	Malta
Overall Length	298.00 m
Beam	46.00 m
Draft	17.40 m
Depth (Moulded)	22.5 m
SCNT	79,985.54
Cargo Capacity at 98%	160,698 m³

Biruinţa (Romanian equivalent for The Prevailer), renamed in (year?) as the Iris Star and in 2005 as the Histria Crown, is a Romanian crude oil tanker. The current president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, was captain of the ship in the late 1980s.

[edit] History

The Biruinţa oil tanker, one of the biggest ships of the Romanian commercial fleet, was sold after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and after 16 years of service. The ship was then re-registered under the Maltese flag as M/T IRIS STAR. Administered by Histria Ship Management, the tanker had a 150,000 T.D.W. capacity.

On July 27, 2000, the ship lost power due to engine failure and drifted towards Kandilli point in Turkey. There was no extensive damage reported. The sister ship of the Iris Star, M/T Independenţa, suffered a more deadly accident with a Greek ship (M/V Evriyali) at the southern entrance to the Strait of Istanbul. After colliding, all but three members of the Romanian tanker crew lost their lives.

In 2005, Biruinţa was re-named the Histria Crown.