MS Shota Rustaveli

MS Shota Rustaveli was a cruise ship, built in 1968 by V.E.B. Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany for the Soviet Union's Black Sea Shipping Company and named after the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli. After the fall of the Soviet Union she was handed to Ukraine. In 2000, she was sold to Kaalbye Group and renamed MS Assedo. In 2003, she was scrapped at Alang, India.[1]

Passenger ship Shota Rustaveli in Yalta in 1968
History
Name:	1968–2000: Shota Rustaveli 2000–2003: Assedo[1]
Owner:	1968–1995: Black Sea Shipping Company 1995–1997: BLASCO UK 1997–2000: Ocean Agencies 2000–2003: Kaalbye Shipping International[1]
Port of registry:	1968–1991: Odessa,  Soviet Union 1991–1995: Odessa,  Ukraine 1995–1997: Monrovia,  Liberia 1997–2001: Odessa,  Ukraine 2001–2002: Kingstown,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[1][2][3] 2002–2003: Odessa,  Ukraine[4]
Builder:	Mathias Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany[1]
Yard number:	128[1]
Laid down:	11 October 1965
Launched:	29 December 1966[1]
Acquired:	30 June 1968[1]
In service:	1968[1]
Out of service:	2003[1]
Identification:	Call sign: UUGF IMO number: 6707753
Fate:	Scrapped in Alang, India, in 2003[1]
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Ivan Franko-class passenger ship
Tonnage:	19,361 GRT 5,696 DWT[5]
Displacement:	13,010 tons[5]
Length:	175.77 m (576 ft 8 in)[1]
Beam:	23.55 m (77 ft 3 in)[1]
Draught:	8.10 m (26 ft 7 in)[1]
Depth:	13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)[5]
Installed power:	2 × Sulzer-Cegielski 7RND76 15,666 kW (combined)[1]
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)[1]
Capacity:	750 passengers[1]
Crew:	347[5]