Mircea

Description

Mircea is a steel-hulled three-masted barque built on the plans of the Gorch Fock, the only sister ship of Gorch Fock built on the original 1933 plans. She has a length of 82.1 m (269.4 ft) or 73.7 m (242 ft) excluding her bowsprit, beam of 12.0 m (39.4 ft), height of 44 m (144.4 ft) and draught of 5.2 m (17 ft). On the bow, Mircea presents a figurehead showing the ruler dressed in a blue blouse, red cloak, and wearing a crown on his head. Her three masts carry 23 sails with a total area of 1,850 m2 (19,900 sq ft), allowing her to reach speeds of over 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

Her original propulsion was a six-cylinder 520 hp (390 kW) MAN diesel engine driving a single propeller of 1.39 m (4 ft 6.7 in) in diameter. The maximum speed using the engine was 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph). She currently uses a 1,100 hp (820 kW) MaK diesel engine, which allows a maximum speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph).

History

Background

In 1881, the Romanian Navy ordered a sail training vessel from the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company of London. The sailing brig entered service in 1882 and was named NMS Mircea after Voivode Mircea the Elder, who ruled Wallachia between 1386 and 1418, under whose reign the local navigation and the trade carried out at sea experienced great development, expanding into the Black Sea as well as in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. By World War I, discussions began about replacing the old training ship with a new one, as the NMS Mircea required numerous repairs and modifications.

In 1928, the Romanian Naval League, an association affiliated with the Romanian Navy, highlighted the need for a modern school ship for the new requirements of the naval cadets. On Romanian Navy Day in 1936, King Carol II held a speech in which he mentioned that the "Spirit of the Mircea" should be carried on in the Romanian Navy. Following this event, the Naval League organized a national subscription for the purchase of a new ship which would also be called Mircea, based on the examples of the Polish and the Yugoslav naval leagues which acquired the Dar Pomorza and the Jadran respectively in similar ways.

The money was soon gathered and, with the addition of state funds, around 120 million lei were raised. After the offers from various shipbuilders were reviewed, the Blohm & Voss shipyard from Hamburg, Germany was chosen, and the ship was to be based on the Gorch Fock-class.

Service history

The contract for the vessel was signed with the Blohm & Voss shipyard by the Minister of the Air and Navy, Radu Irimescu, on 26 January 1938. The ship was laid down on 15 April 1938 with the yard number 519. On 22 September 1938, the ship was launched and christened Mircea, with Mrs. Brabețeanu, wife of Counselor Victor Brabețeanu from the Romanian Legation in Berlin, as the ship's sponsor. On 16 January 1939, Mircea began her sea trials and from 25 January, the Romanian crew led by Comandor August Roman began training on the ship under the supervision of Kriegsmarine personnel.

The national flag-raising ceremony took place on 27 March 1939, with Comandor Roman officially taking command of the ship. The voyage to Romania began on 29 March. Mircea left the port of Hamburg in the early morning, navigating under sail and saluted by the vessels docked in the port. She was accompanied by her sister Horst Wessel for the first few miles before reaching Heligoland, where she calibrated her Bellini–Tosi direction finder. Along the way to Romania, Mircea anchored at the ports of Southampton, Lisbon, and Valletta. Entering the Black Sea on 6 May, she stopped at Balchik for 10 days. On 17 May 1939, Mircea entered the port of Constanța, being greeted by officials and young students of the Naval School and the ships docked in the port, including the old NMS Mircea.

On 3 July 1939, Mircea left for her first training voyage in the Mediterranean Sea with a crew of 11 officers, 16 foremen, 37 cadets from the Naval School, 83 students from military schools, and 67 sailors. She stopped at the ports of Palermo, Toulon, Palma, Gibraltar, Algiers and Alexandria. The last part of the voyage, which included visits to Syria, Cyprus and the Greek Islands, was canceled because of the German attack on Poland. Thus, on 3 September 1939, Mircea returned to Constanța, where she was docked at the military berth.

The outbreak of the Second World War started a long period, over 25 years, in which Mircea did not execute any long voyages representing Romania outside the Black Sea. For safety, on 19 February 1941, the ship was docked at Brăila on the Arapu arm of the Danube. She stayed there until the summer of 1944. In September 1944, she was taken by Soviet authorities along with other Romanian ships and sent to Soviet ports while the crews were interned in camps. Mircea was given the name Rion on 20 October 1944 and entered Soviet Navy service. While assigned to the Black Sea Fleet, the ship was used in the filming of the movie Admiral Nakhimov in 1945. Modified by carpenters and specialists, the three-masted barque portrayed the Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin, the Kagul, and Nakhimov's flagship, the Imperatritsa Maria for on location filming. At the request of Vice Admiral Petre Bărbuneanu, the ship was returned to the Romanian Navy a year later, reentering Romanian service on 27 May 1946. Upon entry into port, the flags of Romania and the Allied Control Commission members were hoisted. The ceremony was attended by King Michael I, Prime Minister Petru Groza, members of the government, and other representatives of Constanța. At the same time, the coastal battery Vulturul performed the 21-gun salute on the King's arrival.

Sister ships

Gorch Fock (1933) (ex Tovarishch (1951-2003))

USCGC Eagle (1936, ex Horst Wessel)

NRP Sagres (1937, ex Albert Leo Schlageter)

Herbert Norkus (begun 1939, unfinished)

Gorch Fock (1958) (built with parts left from Herbert Norkus)