The Kruzenshtern or Krusenstern is a four masted barque and tall ship that was built in 1926 at Geestemünde in Bremerhaven, Germany as the Padua (named after the Italian city). She was surrendered to the USSR in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann Krusenstern (1770–1846). She is now a Russian Navy sail training ship. Of the four remaining Flying P-Liners, the former Padua is the only one still in use, mainly for training purposes, with her home ports in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) and Murmansk. After the Sedov, another former German ship, she is the largest traditional sailing vessel still in operation.
Launched in 1926 as the last of the P-Liners, the Padua was commissioned as a cargo ship, used among other things to ship construction material to Chile, South America, returning with saltpeter around Cape Horn. Later she transported wheat from Australia. Her maiden voyage from Hamburg to Talcahuano, Chile took 87 days. In 1933–1934 she took a record-breaking 67 days from Hamburg to Port Lincoln in South Australia. Prior to World War II she made 15 long trips to Chile and Australia. Her fastest voyage was in 1938–1939, from Hamburg via Chile to Australia and back to Hamburg in 8 months and 23 days under Captain Richard Wendt – a World record voyage for tall ships that has never been broken.
On January 12, 1946 she was surrendered to the USSR and integrated into the Baltic Fleet of the Soviet Navy. She was moored in Kronstadt harbour until 1961 where she underwent major repairs and a refit (e.g. the installation of her first engines) for her missions for the Hydrographic Department of the Soviet Navy. From 1961 to 1965 she undertook many hydrographic and oceanographical surveys for the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, and Mediterranean, and was used as a training vessel for naval cadets. In 1965 she was transferred to the USSR Ministry of Fisheries in Riga to be used as a schoolship for future fishery officers.
On 3 May 2010 she stopped in Bremerhaven after a trip of five months with stops in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics and in Cuba, after which she returned to Kaliningrad.
