MS Abkhazia was one of six Soviet Krim-class cargo liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company.

[2][1] After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) by Nazi Germany and its allies, Abkhazia was used for military tasks.

Abkhazia arrived in Odessa on 14 October to begin loading the city's defenders and reached Sevastopol on the 16th without damage despite repeated German air attacks.

[4] The liner transported elements of the 386th Rifle Division from Novorossiyk to Sevastopol on 1–5 January 1942 and made another trip at the beginning of March.

At the beginning of June, Abkhazia was part of a convoy that brought 2,785 troops to reinforce the garrison and evacuated 487 wounded men and 722 civilians on the return voyage.