RV Vityaz (1939)

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Vityaz, originally named Mars, is a German-built ship created in 1939 for the Neptun Line in Bremen. She served with the Kriegsmarine during World War II, initially as a cargo ship and later as a hospital ship from 1942 to 1945. Mars was badly damaged in a 1943 air raid but helped evacuate German civilians from Königsberg and Pillau, carrying about 20,000 people in early 1945.

In May 1945, the ship was seized at Copenhagen and renamed Empire Forth under the British Ministry of War Transport, registered in London and operated by Prince Line. In 1946, under the Potsdam Agreement, Empire Forth was allocated to the Soviet Union and renamed Equator, then later Admiral Makarov, with registration in Leningrad.

Converted into a research vessel in 1947–48, she was transformed at multiple ports and, in 1949, renamed Vityaz, with Vladivostok as her port of registry. As Vityaz, she completed about 65 voyages, covering around 800,000 nautical miles. In 1957 she measured the depth of the Mariana Trench at about 11,022 meters. In 1958 she detected harmful radioactivity in rainfall, and in 1960 she was reportedly buzzed by a U.S. Navy aircraft (though the U.S. Navy denied this).

Vityaz carried the IMO number 5382609 and, during her time as a Soviet research vessel, discovered around 1,176 new species and served as a goodwill ambassador for the Soviet Union, visiting 49 countries. She was retired in 1979 and became a museum ship in 1982. After moves in 1988 and 1994, she became part of the Museum of World Oceans in Kaliningrad, where she remains as one of the area’s most notable museum ships.