ALFA is one of 91 sailing vessel built as war reparations in Finland for the Soviet Union. She was built by Oy Laivateollisuus at Åbo / Turku and delivered in September 1948. Her registration No. was M-16566, her first port of registry Leningrad, later Rostov-na-Donu. She came to the Black Sea in 1954.

The Length of her hull was 44.91m, Beam 8.75m, Draught 3.45m, Displacement 626ts, Sailarea 822m².

Of the 91 vessels 17 were rigged as barquentines, all of them training vessels. The others were rigged as 3-masted schooners, mostly used as cargo schooners, some as training vessels and at least one as a research vessel. The fate of most of these vessels is not known, just a few survived to date. ALFA probably is scrapped or rotting away at a remote place.

Photos of these vessels are rare.

Regards,
Werner