RMS Saxonia

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The RMS Saxonia was a 34,183 gross-ton passenger ship of the Cunard Line. Built in 1954, she served with Cunard until 1962 when she was refitted and renamed the RMS Carmania. She carried on serving as the Carmania on transatlantic crossings and various cruise routes until she was laid up in 1971. In August 1973 she was bought by the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed SS Leonid Sobinov.

[edit] History

As one of several ships that were among the last built for transatlantic passenger traffic in the early 1950s, the Saxonia was launched in 1954 and revived a name previously used for a Cunard liner built in 1905 and laid up in 1925. The Saxonia was refitted in 1962 and given another Cunard name from earlier in the century, Carmania. As the Carmania, the vessel carried on serving the Rotterdam - Southampton - Canada route for several years, plus winter cruises in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, although not without incident.

During 1968, problems with US fire regulations while cruising from Port Everglades led to the cancellation of the Winter cruise. Cunard made some minor modifications to the ship before the next sailing in January 1969. On a subsequent cruise the vessel ran aground on a sandbank off San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. Three months after returning to service the ship collided with the Soviet cruiser Frunze, but damage to both vessels was apparently minor. Shortly thereafter, in 1971 when she was laid up at Southampton. In August 1973 she was bought by the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed after Leonid Sobinov.

[edit] External links

• RMS Saxonia