Russia's Kruzenshtern to set off for fall voyage

Russia's famous tall ship, the Kruzenshtern, will set off on Wednesday for its 97-day fall voyage to visit seven European ports, a spokeswoman for the ship's owners said on Tuesday. "The route lies in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The ship will visit seven ports in four countries: Helsinki (Finland), Warnemunde (Germany), Zeebrugge (Belgium), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain), Vigo (Spain), Bremerhaven (Germany), and Rostock (Germany)," spokeswoman Irina Chiklinenkova said. The Kruzenshtern with 120 naval cadets on board is scheduled to return to its home port of Kaliningrad on December 1. The Kruzenshtern is widely regarded as one of the jewels of the Russian sailing fleet. It was built in Germany in 1926 as a windjammer class ship (then called The Padova). After World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union as a reparation payment and renamed after a legendary Russian navigator, Johann Kruzenshtern (1770-1846), who performed Russia's first round-the-world trip. Since the 1970s, the ship has served as a training vessel for naval cadets. The Kruzenshtern was moored for three weeks in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) during the 2010 Winter Olympics and became one of the most important symbols of support for the Russian teams in its ultimately unsuccessful sports campaign.