Her purpose was to transport freight and passengers between the ports of Odessa, Yalta, Sebastopol and Istanbul between the Azov and Black seas.

[5] During the refitting process several spying instruments were discovered, including a radioactivity detector and thick aluminum insulation across the entire boat.

[7] In 1970, during Cold War tensions, the family of ships gradually stopped ferrying passengers in the Black Sea in order to be re-fitted for strategic purposes by the USSR.

[10][11] After undergoing a seven-year refitting, including being stripped from top to bottom,[12] the bow has been raised to create a shielded ipe wood deck.

Part of the re-fitting included upgrading to a diesel Mitsubishi engine that is used to drive the original propeller.