Return m/s "Sobieski" to Gdańsk – symbolic start of postwar reconstruction of Polish shipping

On March 25, 1946, m/s entered Gdańsk Sobieski, starting his first post-war voyage To the country. On board there were about 2,400 Polish soldiers returning from Britain after the end of World War II.

Symbolic return to the country

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March 25, 1946 passenger-carry transatlantic m/s Sobieski entered Gdańsk, ending the first post-war return to his homeland. There were about 2,400 Polish soldiers on board, who returned from Britain after the war. It was a moment of great symbolic importance – not only people returned to the country at the time, but also a ship which served as a transport unit for the army during the war.

Polish flag pre-war card

Sobieski was modern, for its time, transatlantic, built in 1937 in a renowned British shipyard Swan Hunter in Wallsend for Polish shipowner Gdynia-American Line. The unit measured about 155 m long and could take over 1,100 passengers in different classes, combining the function of an emigration liner with the comfort of ocean travel.

Before the outbreak of World War II, he served mainly connections between Europe and North America, acting with the ship Batteries one of the most recognizable units of the Polish flag in the Atlantic. During the war, he was incorporated into the Allied service and participated in numerous transport operations.

From liner to repatriation ship

After 1945, the role of the individual changed significantly. From a luxury liner it became primarily a transport and repatriation ship, carrying people returning to the country. In 1947–1950, he again operated connections on the Genoa–New York route, but the increasing tensions of the Cold War and the subordination of Poland to the realities of the Eastern bloc made it increasingly difficult to maintain long transatlantic connections and ceased to be a priority of the then authorities.

The trade fleet has been subject to the decisions of the state authorities operating in the realities of a subordinate economy to the Soviet Union, and some units – including Sobieski The Soviet Union has been transferred. Sold in 1950, it was named Georgia, thus ending its chapter in Polish history shipping.