Hi Serg,

I think I was only half awake when I added my earlier comments. I also have it on record that B53/09 Vormsi, completed 1953, was, according to RRS, transferred to the Russian Navy in February 1975. This may well is the one that become Indigirka. And if #4 Fort Shevchenko, became the Shevchenko, then all is tied up !!!

All I now need to know is what happened to other Naval vessels Mayak, Nivelir and Prizma.

On another subject, what do you know of the Tovda class transports, some of which were converted to cable layers ?

all the best

Allan

Hi Serge - its Allan - just seen this thread

I disagree with the other comments - she could well be a B53 type. Its amazing she is still around after over 50 years.

As far as my records show, there was not a B53 type built as Indigirka........ The Russian Navy took 3 of this type as transports, hulls 19, 21 and 22, with names given as Mayak, Nivelir and Prizma. One source suggests a further 2 vessels were transferred to the Navy and renamed Shevchenko and Indigirka !!! It is possible the #4 Fort Shevchenko may have been renamed Shevchenko for Naval service and this may explain its reappearance in 1991 as Fort Shevchenko, but I have no idea which one may have become Indigirka. (I would love to know) Any chance you can get to see the builders plate ?
Most of the Russian owned members of this class were deleted from LR in the early 1970's but Fort Shevchenko, deleted in 1971, turned up again in 1991 (and was given a new IMO number !!). Naval use would explain its disappearance. So others may well have survived - Lloyds is certainly not infallible. In 1999 Fort Shevchenko was renamed La Famille Express. She was withdrawn from the RRS in 2001 but is still given as operational under the Vietnamese flag.

Another of the class is still extant as Hoa Binh operated by Vietnam Union Salvage, but I can not find out her former name. I suspect it might be one of the last 7 of the series which were all delivered to China under Polish names. LR only gives one as being renamed to a Chinese name, #29 Orlowo renamed Nan Hai 136. It is logical to assume the others were similarly renamed (as were the B31 and B32 types delivered to China.), but no others appear in LR with a Chinese name. In fact, B53/30 Wejherowo (name given for delivery voyage to China) - never appears in Lloyds Register. She may well have been an early loss - or she may have been sold to Vietnam. All very mysterious. As for Indigirka – who knows her origin ?

Again it all goes to show you can not entirely believe what appears in the Registers or in Equasis. But you can believe a photograph. Your shot of Indigirka seems to have the correct basic shape of a B53 although the crane is new (they originally had 2 derricks (one at the bow and one in front of the bridge) – yours has a crane in the centre (possibly for buoy handling ?). Yes, I believe it is a B53 and it is remarkable she is still around after over 50 years.

I hope that in the end we cancrack this mystery

all the best

Allan

Hi Serge - its Allan - just seen this thread

I disagree with the other comments - she could well be a B53 type. Its amazing she is still around after over 50 years.

As far as my records show, there was not a B53 type built as Indigirka........ The Russian Navy took 3 of this type as transports, hulls 19, 21 and 22, with names given as Mayak, Nivelir and Prizma. One source suggests a further 2 vessels were transferred to the Navy and renamed Shevchenko and Indigirka !!! It is possible the #4 Fort Shevchenko may have been renamed Shevchenko for Naval service and this may explain its reappearance in 1991 as Fort Shevchenko, but I have no idea which one may have become Indigirka. (I would love to know) Any chance you can get to see the builders plate ?
Most of the Russian owned members of this class were deleted from LR in the early 1970's but Fort Shevchenko, deleted in 1971, turned up again in 1991 (and was given a new IMO number !!). Naval use would explain its disappearance. So others may well have survived - Lloyds is certainly not infallible. In 1999 Fort Shevchenko was renamed La Famille Express. She was withdrawn from the RRS in 2001 but is still given as operational under the Vietnamese flag.

Another of the class is still extant as Hoa Binh operated by Vietnam Union Salvage, but I can not find out her former name. I suspect it might be one of the last 7 of the series which were all delivered to China under Polish names. LR only gives one as being renamed to a Chinese name, #29 Orlowo renamed Nan Hai 136. It is logical to assume the others were similarly renamed (as were the B31 and B32 types delivered to China.), but no others appear in LR with a Chinese name. In fact, B53/30 Wejherowo (name given for delivery voyage to China) - never appears in Lloyds Register. She may well have been an early loss - or she may have been sold to Vietnam. All very mysterious. As for Indigirka – who knows her origin ?

Again it all goes to show you can not entirely believe what appears in the Registers or in Equasis. But you can believe a photograph. Your shot of Indigirka seems to have the correct basic shape of a B53 although the crane is new (they originally had 2 derricks (one at the bow and one in front of the bridge) – yours has a crane in the centre (possibly for buoy handling ?). Yes, I believe it is a B53 and it is remarkable she is still around after over 50 years.

I hope that in the end we cancrack this mystery

all the best

Allan

*Indigirika* M30360/IMO 6923682. Steel single screw refrigerated fish carrier built 1970 at Wismar by VEB Mathias-Thesen Werft as hull no. 146 for USSR "Kasppryba," Batumi. 59.82m x 11.08 x 5.36; 1115 gt, 426 nt; 8-cylinder VEB Schwermaschinenfabrik Diesel, 320mm x 480, 825-bhp. In service for KAZAKHRYBFLOT, Fort-Shevchenko, Kazakhstan.

Hello Serg,

She is IMO 6923682, a reefer. Some info can be found here.

Kind regards,
Aleksi