Iosif Stalin-class passenger ship

The ships were ready and left Amsterdam on 1 May 1940, only nine days prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands.

The Iosif Stalin was heavily damaged and eventually scuttled in early December when she participated in the Soviet evacuation of the Hanko Peninsula.

While the crew tried to repair the ship, Finnish coastal artillery spotted the convoy and opened fire.

The shell hit an ammunition magazine, causing a large explosion and the ship began to sink.

The ship was "forgotten" in Soviet history, since its commander ordered a capitulation of the nearly 3,000 strong survivors, although they had weapons and ammunition to put up a fairly good defense.

[5] The captain of the liner N. S. Stepanov, who left the ship last, was captured and worked in the Port of Tallinn - sawing wood there.

She was damaged by a mine (which sunk the minesweeper T-201 Zaryad) and aerial bombing and was towed back to Leningrad to be repaired.

In September 1971, as Baltika, she repatriated many of the 105 Soviet officials, including 45 diplomats, expelled from the United Kingdom for "activities incompatible with their status".