SS Fizik Kurchatov

	The ship «Физик Курчатов» loading the missiles in Casilda port. The photo is captured by an RF-101 pilot with the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing on Nov. 6, 1962, while the aircraft itself casts a shadow over the port.
History
Name	Fizik Kurchatov; ([Физик Курчатов] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)); Call sign: UYOM ; Register number: М-27551 ; Class formula until 1975: ЛР4/1С РСМ ; Class formula from 1975: КМ(*)Л3[1] ; IMO number: 5404093 ;
Namesake	Leninsky Komsomol class cargo ships, projuct 567 and 567К.
Owner	June 1962 – 30 April 1986: Black Sea Shipping Company, USSR
Operator	June 1962 – 30 April 1986: Black Sea Shipping Company, USSR
Port of registry	June 1962 – 30 April 1986: Odessa, USSR; 30 April 1986 - August 1986: Gorgetown, Cayman Islands;
Builder	Kherson shipyard
Renamed	Kurchat, home port George Town, Cayman Islands.
Fate	Scrapped at Kaohsiung (China) in August 1986
General characteristics
Type	freighter, tweendecker
Tonnage	11,206 GT or 12,127 GT; DWT 16247 mt or 16225 mt; Displacement 22225 mt;
Length	557.7 ft (170.0 m)
Beam	72.2 ft (22.0 m)
Propulsion	two steam turbine engines driving a single 6.3 m (21 ft) screw propeller
Speed	18.5 knots
Capacity	Bale capacity: 20220 cub m; Grain capacity: 23763 cub m;

Fizik Kurchatov ([Физик Курчатов] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) was a multi-purpose tweendecker freighter owned by the Black Sea Shipping Company (Soviet Union). It belonged to the Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships, and had steam turbine engines and oneproject 567K.^[5] The ship was named after Soviet scientist and physicist Igor Vasiliyevich Kurchatov (1903-1960).

This ship was one of the Soviet ships that took part in:

Operation Anadyr
One of the nine Soviet ships that transported Soviet missiles back to the USSR from Cuba during the Cuban crisis.
1973 Arab-Israeli War

History

The keel of the ship was laid down in the Kherson Shipyard on 20th of March 1961. By that time the shipyard had already built seven sister ships.^[4] The ship Fizik Kurchatov was built in June, 1962.^[2] The ship was handed over to the Black Sea Shipping Company on the 30 of June, 1962.^[2]

During the Cuban Crisis

The maiden voyage was reported by some sources to be from Nikolayev to Cuba. The cargo on board was an air defense battalion including the accompanying equipment and troops. After unloading on Cuba the ship loaded sugar and sailed to return to USSR in June, 1962,.^[6] Other sources state that the ship was built in May and delivered to the Black Sea shipping Company after this voyage.

Two voyages of this ship in Operation Anadyr:

First voyage commenced before 25 of July. The ship loaded 1131 tons of general cargo and trucks on the main deck. She sailed from Odessa with Ghana declared as the port of destination. However, the ship arrived at Cuba on the 7 of August, 1962.^[7]
Second voyage commenced in September. The ship loaded 9500 tons of general cargo including subdivisions of 51 missile division and sailed from Odessa. Oran, an Algerian port, was declared as port of destination, but the ship arrived on Ciba.^[7]

On the 23 of October, 1962, the ship still was on Cuba.^[8]

The Soviet cargo ship Fizik Kurchatov left Cuba on the 7 of November 1962 and was photographed by American reconnaissance planes during its return to the Soviet Union. The ship transported back to the USSR six canvas-covered missiles on the open main deck. These were the same missiles which had been aimed toward the United States. The Soviet Union, following the American blockade of Cuba, decided to send the missiles back to its territory.^[9]

1973 Arab–Israeli War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War, also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, was a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. Total 23 or more Soviet merchant ships carried military cargoes to Syria and Egyptian October and November, 1973 and eight of them were Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships. The ship Fizik Kurchatov was one of this seven Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships.

According to U.S. information the ship Fizik Kurchatov three time visited.:

the ship passed Bosphorus on the 9 and arrived Alexandria on the 12 of October, 1973;
the ship passed Bosphorus on the 23 and arrived Latakia on the 25 of October, 1973;
the ship passed Bosphorus on the 10 and arrived Alexandria on the 12 of November, 1973.^[10]

USSR created the new fleet of Ethiopia.

The ship Fizik Kurchatov brought on board and delivered to Ethiopia two Artillery Cutters Project 1400ME "P-205" and "P-206" in October 1982 when the Soviet Union created the new fleet of Ethiopia.^[11]

Cuba

The ship Fizik Kurchatov often visited the Cuba and after Caribbean Crisis. Last years this ship was sent to Cuba mostly and the attached letter confirm it.

The fate

The ship was renamed Kurchat and changed home port to George Town, Cayman Islands, on 30 of April 1986 and scrapped at Kaohsiung (China) in August 1986.