MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Kruzenshtern sailing ship has concluded its participation in an international regatta of tall ships, and is currently heading for Iceland's capital Reykjavik.
The Kruzenshtern, one of the world's largest sailing ships, left her home port of Kaliningrad on April 19 for its third journey to circumnavigate the globe. As part of the voyage, the Kruzenshtern took part in the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009, a journey of 7,000 nautical miles along traditional commercial routes in the North Atlantic.
As part of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009, the vessel visited the ports of Vigo (Spain), Hamilton (Bermuda), Charleston and Boston on the eastern coast of the U.S., as well as Halifax and St. John's in Canada.
The four-mast barque was built in 1926 in Bremerhaven-Wesermunde, Germany, under the name Padua. The vessel has a distinctive black-and-white design of the sides, which imitates gunports. The style was historically used by ships that traded in the East to deter pirates.
The ship was given to the Soviet Union in 1946 as part of World War II reparations, and was renamed after a Russian admiral of German descent, Johann Krusenstern (1770-1846), who performed Russia's first circumnavigation. Since the 1970s the ship has been used as a training vessel for naval cadets.
