Russian training tall ship Tovarisch
Ark Models 40008

This beautiful sailing-ship was built within an extremely short timeframe – merely 100 days – by the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1933, with her construction paid for with public donations. The ship was designated as Gorch Fock in commemoration of popular German sea author Hans Kinau (Gorch Fock was his pen name), who died in WWI. Built for the Kriegsmarine, the barque had sailed until 1945 but was scuttled at the very end of the war. Soviet experts recovered it only two years later. The sailing-ship, re-designated as Tovarisch, started sailing under the Soviet flag in 1950. It became the absolute prizewinner of international sailing regattas in 1974 and 1976. Over 14,000 midshipmen from 22 naval academies and merchant marine colleges were trained on board the Tovarisch. In addition, the ship was filmed in upwards of 40 movies over her five decades in service, including such films as Maximka, Captain Nemo, Prisoner of Château d'If and Scarlet Sails.