They were good ships, I sailed on the Freedeburg and Neuenburg with Reederei Barthold Richters from Hamburg in the late 70,s as AB, the only thing I never liked was that those east german ships had this copied heavy gears which was nothing different than a copy cat from the so called STUELKEN heavy gear.

Herrliche Schiffsfotos hier! Aber "Schwerin" (meine erste Heimatstadt!) war zuvor kein Name von einem Kuestenmotorschiff, sondern von einem der ersten 10.000-Tonner der DDR, einem Typ-IV-Schiff! Siehe http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=36399
Alles ueber die Schiffe "Typ IV" ist auch dort zu finden: www.seeleute-rostock.de/?TypIV
Viele Gruesse!
Andreas

Just about the perfect angle on this one Brian. Captures the impressive might of these East German cargo ships well. If my memory serves me correct I'm sure this name was formerly on a much smaller DDR ship of the Zussow/Kropelin sort of size. But maybe it's just my memory addled :-D Great shot.
Regards
John J.