Route for the supply of river vessels to the USSR. Development of river transport in the USSR and during the pre-war five-year plans. Creation of the "Voluntary Fleet"

Having risen above the surface of the water, these ships rush past at the speed of an express train; At the same time, they provide their passengers with the same comfort as on a jet airliner.
In the Soviet Union alone, the leading country for ships of this class, hydrofoil ships of various types annually transported more than 20 million passengers on regular lines.
In 1957, the first Project 340 “Raketa” left the Feodosia shipyard in Ukraine. The ship was capable of reaching an unheard-of speed of 60 km/h at that time and carrying 64 people.

Following the “Rockets” in the 1960s, larger and more comfortable twin-propeller “Meteors” appeared, produced by the Zelenodolsk Shipyard. The passenger capacity of these ships was 123 people. The ship had three salons and a buffet bar.

In 1962, Project 342m “Comets” appeared, essentially the same “Meteors”, only modernized for operation at sea. They could walk with more high wave, had radar equipment (radar)

In 1961, simultaneously with the launch of the Meteors and Comets series, the Nizhny Novgorod shipyard "Krasnoe Sormovo" launched the Project 329 ship "Sputnik" - the largest SPC. It carries 300 passengers at a speed of 65 km/h. Just like with Meteor, they built a naval version of Sputnik, called the Whirlwind. But during four years of operation, a lot of shortcomings were revealed, including the great gluttony of four engines and the discomfort of passengers due to strong vibration.

For comparison, “Sputnik” and “Rocket”

Sputnik is now...
In Togliatti they turned it into either a museum or a tavern. In 2005 there was a fire. Now it looks like this.

"Burevestnik" is one of the most beautiful ships in the entire series! This is a gas turbine vessel developed by R. Alekseev’s Central Design Bureau SPK, Gorky. "Burevestnik" was the flagship among river SPCs. It had a power plant based on two gas turbine engines borrowed from civil aviation(with IL-18). It was operated from 1964 until the end of the 70s on the Volga on the route Kuibyshev - Ulyanovsk - Kazan - Gorky. The Burevestnik accommodated 150 passengers and had an operating speed of 97 km/h. However, it did not go into mass production - two aircraft engines made a lot of noise and required a lot of fuel.

It has not been used since 1977. In 1993, it was cut into scrap.

In 1966, the Gomel Shipyard produced a vessel for shallow rivers, just over 1 meter deep, “Belarus”, with a passenger capacity of 40 people and a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. And from 1983, it will produce a modernized version of the Polesie, which can already carry 53 people at the same speed.

Rockets and Meteors were getting old. New projects were created at the R. Alekseev Central Clinical Hospital. In 1973, the Feodosia Shipyard launched the second-generation Voskhod SPK.
Voskhod is the direct receiver of the Rocket. This vessel is more economical and more spacious (71 people).

In 1980, at the Shipyard named after. Ordzhonikidze (Georgia, Poti) production of the Kolkhida agricultural production complex opens. The speed of the vessel is 65 km/h, the passenger capacity is 120 people. In total, about forty ships were built. Currently, only two are in operation in Russia: one ship on the St. Petersburg - Valaam line, called “Triada”, the other in Novorossiysk - “Vladimir Komarov”.




In 1986, in Feodosia, the new flagship of the marine passenger SPK, the double-deck Cyclone, was launched, which had a speed of 70 km/h and carried 250 passengers. Operated in Crimea, then sold to Greece. In 2004, he returned to Feodosia for repairs, but is still standing there in a semi-disassembled state.

Hydrofoil vessels (HFV)

In 1957, the first ship left the Feodosia shipyard in Ukraine. "Rocket" project 340.
The ship was capable of reaching an unheard-of speed of 60 km/h at that time and carrying 64 people.

Following the "Rockets" in the 1960s, larger and more comfortable twin-propeller"Meteora" produced by the Zelenodolsk shipyard. The passenger capacity of these ships was 123 people. The ship had three salons and a buffet bar.

In 1962 appear "Comets" project 342m, actually the same "Meteors", only modernized for operation at sea. They could walk at a higher wave, had radar equipment (radar)

In 1961, simultaneously with the launch of the Meteors and Comets series, the Nizhny Novgorod shipyard "Krasnoe Sormovo" launched a Project 329 vessel " Satellite" - the largest SEC. It carries 300 passengers at a speed of 65 km/h. Just like with Meteor, they built a naval version of Sputnik, called "Vortex" . But during four years of operation, a lot of shortcomings were revealed, including the great gluttony of four engines and the discomfort of passengers due to strong vibration.

For comparison, "Sputnik" and "Rocket"

In Togliatti they turned it into either a museum or a tavern. In 2005 there was a fire. Now it looks like this.

"Petrel" - one of the most beautiful ships in the entire series! This is a gas turbine vessel developed by R. Alekseev’s Central Design Bureau SPK, Gorky. "Burevestnik" was the flagship among river SPCs. It had a power plant based on two gas turbine engines borrowed from civil aviation (from the Il-18). It was operated from 1964 until the end of the 70s on the Volga on the route Kuibyshev - Ulyanovsk - Kazan - Gorky. The Burevestnik accommodated 150 passengers and had an operating speed of 97 km/h. However, it did not go into mass production - two aircraft engines made a lot of noise and required a lot of fuel.

It has not been used since 1977. In 1993, it was cut into scrap.

In 1966, the Gomel Shipyard produces a vessel for shallow rivers, just over 1 meter deep. "Belarus" with a passenger capacity of 40 people and a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. And from 1983 it will produce a modernized version "Polesie ", which already carries 53 people at the same speed.

Rockets and Meteors were getting old. New projects were created at the R. Alekseev Central Clinical Hospital. In 1973, the Feodosia Shipyard launched the second generation SPK "Sunrise" .
Voskhod is the direct receiver of the Rocket. This vessel is more economical and more spacious (71 people).

In 1980, at the Shipyard named after. Ordzhonikidze (Georgia, Poti) SPK production opens "Colchis" . The speed of the vessel is 65 km/h, the passenger capacity is 120 people. In total, about forty ships were built. Currently, only two are in operation in Russia: one ship on the St. Petersburg - Valaam line, called "Triad", the other in Novorossiysk - "Vladimir Komarov".




In 1986, a new flagship double-deck marine passenger ship was launched in Feodosia "Cyclone" , which had a speed of 70 km/h and carried 250 passengers. Operated in Crimea, then sold to Greece. In 2004, he returned to Feodosia for repairs, but is still standing there in a semi-disassembled state.

I have been interested in river ships for almost 18 years now. There are dozens of cruises behind us, along many navigable rivers of the post-Soviet space: Volga, Kama, Don, Neva, Dnieper, Yenisei, Lena... Over the years I have managed to fall in love river cruises, get inspired by the history of ships and make friends with wonderful people for whom destiny river ships far from indifferent. During this time, before my eyes, many beautiful ships have gone or are going down into history, which I want to talk about. Why are they leaving? There are many reasons, some change their name, and plow the river under a new name. Others were unlucky with financing, or an ineffective company providing a range of services from technical maintenance to the sale of vouchers. As a result, ships sit idle in the backwaters for navigation after navigation. Still others are even more unlucky; a fire or other reasons lead to the ship being cut to pieces. I will only talk about some of the ships that have caught my eye since about 2005, when I got my first digital camera.

01. April 5, 2005, Moscow, Northern River Station (SVR). That winter, many ships spent the winter at SVR. And some of them stood in an unusual arrangement, namely perpendicular to the piers.

02. One of the shipping companies was modernizing the interior of its ships. This is quite unique, since such events usually take place in backwaters, and not in front of onlookers.

03. One of them is the motor ship "Ernest Thälmann" ( who remembers this one?) 588 project, built in Germany 1955. Today he works under a different name - "Caesar". And in the winter of 2004-2005, reconstruction of the internal premises took place right at the SVR.

04. What else is interesting here? Kazan motor ship "Arabella" (project 588), operating in winter as a hotel and restaurant. That winter, 3 or 4 motor ships operated as hotels: I definitely remember the Nizhny Novgorod "Konstantin Fedin" (301) and traditionally "Sergei Abramov" ...

05. Navigation in 2005 was opened, along with others, by the motor ship "Lesya Ukrainka" (301 projects) on a voyage to Uglich. Built in 1977, it operated on the Dnieper until the mid-90s. And since 2001 - on the Volga. By the way, this Last year operation of the ship under the name "Lesya Ukrainka".

06. Today the ship is called "Pyotr Tchaikovsky". Funny change huh? And what’s even funnier is the first title - “XXV Congress of the CPSU”. Such is the metamorphosis.)

07. Like the motor ship “Lesya Ukrainka”, “Aleksey Vatchenko”, after construction in 1985, arrived on the Dnieper where it worked until 2001, after which the ship was transferred to the Volga. This is my first cruise ship, after modest ships of the Moscow-Astrakhan, Moscow-Rostov-on-Don transport line. I remember well the culture shock from the level of comfort of the motor ship "Alexei Vatchenko".) Since 2006, it has changed its name to today's - "Ivan Bunin".

08. The “Belinsky” no longer plows the expanses of the KIM (Moscow Canal), and there is no such ship anymore. It stands somewhere under a new name - "Shlisselburg". Meanwhile, the history of the ship is interesting. Built in 1957 in Germany, the Project 646 vessel entered the Soviet Danube Shipping Company, and from Germany it was transported under its own power not along inland waterways (the Danube), but around Europe: Through the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean(!), Mediterranean and Black Sea. He worked mainly on the line Izmail - Odessa, Izmail - Kiliya - Vilkovo - Odessa - Ochakov - Nikolaev. And on tourist lines along the Danube, to Yugoslav (then) Belgrade. Since 1982, he worked in Kyiv on the transport line Kyiv - Skadovsk - Mezhvodnoye (Crimea). I remember seeing this ship standing almost abandoned in the waters of Kyiv in 1996. In 2003, it was moved to Moscow, and here for almost 10 years the ship regularly took tourists to Uglich, Yaroslavl and other Volga cities.

09. Another motor ship 588 of the F. Joliot-Curie project, which seems to have gone down in history, was named in 1961 in honor of the French physicist and public figure Frederic Joliot-Curie. The motor ship entered the Kama River Shipping Company, where it worked until 2011. At the end of 2011, a fire occurred on the ship standing in the backwater, as a result of which it was taken out of service. Will the "zholik" return ( that's what his admirers called him) to the open spaces? Good question... The photo was taken in Kostroma in 2005.

10. I came across “N. Gastello” near the Kazan River Station in the same 2005. In 2007, the ship, by the way, built in 1954, was reconstructed by adding a fourth deck, and renamed “Alexei Tolstoy”. That's how it works to this day. And "Gastello" has sunk into oblivion...

11. Diesel-electric ship "Karelia" in Samara. This is the penultimate year of operation of the vessel. Since 2006, the ship has been taken out of service and further fate it most likely has no prospects as a transport vessel.

12. Another unique name is the motor ship of project 26-37 “Professor Lukachev” in Saratov. Built in 1961 in Czechoslovakia, it entered the Volga Shipping Company under the name "Klement Gottwald". I remember him well on the Moscow-Astrakhan-Moscow transport line. Having survived several more renamings (Catherine the Great 2006-2009), the ship continues to operate safely under the name "Native Rus'".

13. There in Saratov, I met the motor ship "K.A. Timiryazev", which has not been in operation since navigation in 2013,

14. and "Pavel Mironov" of the 305th project, built in 1962 in Budapest, also decommissioned in 2012. What is their future fate? Will they ever fly again? Let's hope they come out!

15. And they will not repeat the fate of the motor ship "Yuri Zavadsky" project 305, built in 1963. In 1992, the ship was taken out of service and never returned to the river. In 2005, I found it in the backwater of the Memory of the Paris Commune near Nizhny Novgorod in this condition. And after 4 years in 2009 it was finally cut.

16. By the way, in the same backwater in 2005, the now well-known motor ships “N.A. Nekrasov” and “Alexander Benois”, then called “Yakov Sverdlov”, stood for reconstruction. I was lucky enough to sail on both ships when they worked on the Moscow-Astrakhan transport line.

17. It was great!

18. Authentic "Nikolai Shchors" in Moscow in the Northern River Port, 2006. Since its construction in the city of Komarno, Czechoslovakia, from 1962 to 1997, the ship has worked regularly on the Moscow-Astrakhan-Moscow transport line. And after 2002 he worked in the niche of economy cruises from Moscow. In 2010, it was renamed, and today the ship is known under the name "Mikhail Tanich".

19. In 2005, the motor ship 305 of the project “Hero A. Sutyrin” found its seemingly “eternal berth” on the Klyazma reservoir near Moscow. In this place, seemingly in a completely abandoned state, it still stands. I believe he is no longer destined to return to duty.

20. "Alexander Shemagin" in Tver in 2006 (the last navigation of the ship),

21. nowadays. Rebuilt beyond recognition, since 2007 under the name "Swallow II", it is used as a banquet vehicle in Moscow.

photo from the Internet

22. The already mentioned “Alexey Vatchenko” (Ivan Bunin) in Tver, in 2006.

23. "Nikolai Bauman" in Uglich. Motor ship 302 project since its construction in 1989 in Germany, and until 2011 it worked in the Moscow River Shipping Company. True, in 2009 he changed his name, becoming “Princess Anastasia”. And in August 2011, he was sent to the oil fields of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, where he worked as a hostel for workers. In 2013 he returned, but unfortunately not to cruises. Temporarily taken out of service, located in the backwater of the PPK near Nizhny Novgorod. Hopefully, pending reconstruction.)

24. Another example of the former Dnieper motor ships - "Maxim Rylsky", the city of Myshkin, 2006. In 1988-1979, a newly built ship in Germany received the proud name "V.I. Lenin" (this is not some XXV Congress of the CPSU...). In the early 90s, 1998, following the trend, he changed his name, which had become unpopular, to “Maxim Rylsky” in honor of the Ukrainian poet. So he worked until 2001 on the Dnieper. And since 2001 in Russia. In 2010, it received its new name, under which Mikhail Bulgakov operates today.

25. The wonderful motor ship "Alexander Pirogov" in 2006,

26. and a year later in 2007 in Brateevo, Moscow. True, now it is called “Fedor Ushakov”, and as far as I understand, it is the largest banquet vehicle in Moscow. It is so huge that during the entire navigation of 2014 it stood in the quiet backwater of the Capital Shipping Company, near the former ZIL plant in Moscow...)

27. "N.G. Slavyanov" in Moscow at the SVR in 2006. Already history. Fortunately, not the ship itself, but the name. From 2011 to this day he works under the name "Sergey Obraztsov"

28. Rare shot. Still the same Northern River Station in Moscow, the same year 2006. And motor ships that have gone down in history. Sergei Abramov, famous from the film “Election Day,” in 2011, right on the SVR, burned live for almost a day. In September 2013, the ship was finally dismantled in Cherepovets. And the neighboring motor ship "Kazan", built in 1999 at the shipyards of the Italian Messina, arrived in the Russian Federation in 2003. It is also famous for the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council of the Russian Federation led by the President in 2003 that took place on board. After 2003, the ship operated luxury cruises, including European cities, it seems to Vienna.

29. In 2007, I also visited this ship on a short cruise from St. Petersburg to Valaam. This is a beautiful ship and it’s a pity that today it remains only in memories... Since 2009, it has sailed under the flag of Kazakhstan and the name “Kurmangazy”, and is used as a floating hostel for workers in the oil fields of the Caspian Sea. Will she ever return to our waters as a cruise ship?

30. Somewhere on the upper Volga the motor ship "Arabella", which was the "Lev Dovator" until 2002. The ship is famous for its participation in the rescue of passengers of the sunken Bulgaria in 2011. In 2012, the Arabella was decommissioned, and a long process of rebuilding the ship and deep reconstruction began. What his fate is is unknown.

31. Another wonderful motor ship of project 588 is “Peter the First”. The former "Ivan Susanin". From 1960 to 1992, the ship worked for the Moscow River Shipping Company. From 1996 to 2004 she was in Holland, from where she returned in the same condition in which she left. A deep reconstruction - and in front of us in 2006 - a real treat. The photo was taken just in 2006 at the Goritsa pier. Unfortunately, after navigation in 2013, the ship was moved to Cherepovets for use as a hotel. And this is its purpose for the next 10 years.

32. Motor ship of project 92-016, "Sergey Kuchkin" on Valaam in 2006. Former name "Georgiy Dimitrov". Unfortunately, it did not work in the navigation of 2012, 2014. It will not work in the upcoming 2015 either.

33. Just as epoch-making objects, such as the works of V.I. Lenin, or a bust of himself, disappear from the props of old motor ships, motor ships change their names, change their insides, becoming more and more comfortable and meeting the requirements of modernity. And this is of course good. Better this than nothing. But sometimes you want to look back and remember how it was, right?

If you like it, tell me and I will continue ( enough for a post).

Fundamental changes in the development of Soviet river transport occurred during the first five-year plans.

The first five-year plan for the development of the country's national economy (1928-1932), adopted at the V Congress of Soviets, marked the beginning of the reconstruction and development of river transport. As a result of the implementation of the planned activities, major advances were achieved in the technical equipment of river transport. Its fixed assets have more than doubled.
The length of exploited navigable river routes increased in 1932 to 84 thousand km, and those equipped with navigable conditions - to 68.2 thousand km, including those with lighting - to 47.3 thousand km. The routes with guaranteed depths amounted to 18.3 thousand km. The number of dredging equipment has increased and the efficiency of their work has increased. With the construction of the Dnieper dam with navigable locks, the Dnieper became navigable along its entire length - from the upper reaches to the Black Sea.
The Nizhne-Svirsky hydroelectric complex also came into operation, which significantly improved navigation conditions on the river. Svir.
During the years of the first five-year plan, the construction of the White Sea-Baltic shipping canal began and was largely completed, and work began on the construction of a canal connecting the Volga with the Moscow* river.
One of the most important tasks of the first five-year plan is to replenish the transport fleet. A major achievement of domestic shipbuilding during this period should be considered the construction at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant of 880 kW steamships for towing oil barges along the Volga. The operational and economic indicators of these vessels far exceeded those of vessels of the same capacity built before the revolution. The construction of cargo ships began. Thus, in 1931, the plant built a series of ships with a carrying capacity of 3500 tons and a power of 560 kW, and the following year - a series with a carrying capacity of 2160 tons and a power of 360 kW.
Kolomna Plant began building wheeled tugboats with a capacity of 806 kW; other factories produced two series of screw tugs with a power of 1030 and 1100 kW for work on the Ob and Yenisei.
Soviet specialists designed and built oil barges with a carrying capacity of 12 thousand tons - the largest in the world.
It should also be noted the construction of fuel barges, which were of great importance for the national economy. By the end of 1931, 30 such fuel tankers with a total carrying capacity of 8.8 thousand tons were put into operation.

Dry cargo motor ship of mixed (river-sea) navigation type "Sormovsky":
load capacity 3000 t, power 970 kW, speed 19.2 km/h; specialization - transportation of grain, timber and dust cargo; navigation area - main inland waterways and coastal areas of the seas

During the first five-year plan, the technical reconstruction of the fleet began. In March 1932, the All-Union Conference on the typification of the river fleet was held. Taking into account the dimensions of the route, the nature and mass of cargo flows, the main types of liquid and dry cargo metal barges, wooden barges, tugs were determined, and a grid of types of cargo and passenger ships was established.
The total capacity of self-propelled river vessels in 1932 increased by 54% compared to 1928, and the carrying capacity of non-self-propelled vessels - by 81%.
The construction of the fleet required the development of a shipbuilding base. Existing shipyards and shipyards expanded, large ship repair and shipbuilding plants were built - in Kotlas and Astrakhan, as well as Verkhne-Kama, Kostroma, Verkhne-Dnieper, Moscow, Pechora and Yenisei shipyards for wooden shipbuilding. Although the planned shipbuilding program was carried out with great difficulty and not in full, during the first five-year plan the factories began to produce new types of ships.
The ship repair enterprises were tasked with radically improving the technical condition and use of the existing fleet, as well as replenishing the fleet of ships by restoring decommissioned ones. This responsible work required the expansion and reorganization of the material and technical base. New workshops were built and workshops were reconstructed. The power supply of enterprises increased, electric welding and autogenous cutting and welding of metals were introduced, and machine equipment was updated.
By the beginning of the first five-year plan, there were practically no river ports with berths equipped with reloading mechanisms. Cargo transshipment was carried out mainly manually. In July 1928, technical rules for transshipment work were introduced, aimed at improving the organization and working conditions of loaders; Since 1930, the production of port reloading mechanisms has been established.
After the 16th Congress of the Communist Party (June 1930), more attention began to be paid to the mechanization of transhipment work: funds were allocated for the development of the port and marina facilities, exploration and design work. In 1930, the construction of berths and other dock structures began in Gomel and Dnepropetrovsk, in 1931 - in Moscow, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Solikamsk, Kyiv, Kotlas, Kherson, Pechora, Novosibirsk, in 1932 - in Leningrad, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Saratov, Astrakhan and other cities. However, ports with modern equipment were built only in some points; in others, embankments were reconstructed or separate berths were created. By the end of 1931, 842 reloading mechanisms were operating on river transport; by the end of 1932 - 1141, mainly mobile light-type conveyors with a capacity of 25-50 t/h, and several cranes, mainly with a lifting capacity of 1.5 and 5 tons. Warehouses, elevators, and refrigerators were built in a number of locations. During the first five-year plan, the scientific and technical foundations for the development of the port and marina economy were laid.
The management of the transport process was improved - ship traffic schedules and a new fleet planning system were introduced. In 1930, for the first time in river transport, dispatch control of fleet movements began to be used. However, the implementation of this system was hampered by the lack of necessary funds communications. Waterways were equipped with wired communications for only 5% of their length, including the rivers of Siberia were equipped with communications for 0.2%, and the rivers of Central Asia and Transcaucasia did not have wired communications at all. In the second half of 1931, a selector system began to function in the North-Western and Northern Shipping Companies telephone communications. Then it spreads to the Volga, Kama, Oka, Dnieper, and Don. Telephone stations of the Central Bank system appeared on the rivers of the European part of the USSR. Radio communications were introduced mainly on the rivers of Siberia, Far East and Central Asia.

Container ship "Bakhtemir" type:
load capacity 1000 t, power 880 kW, speed 20.7 km/h; navigation area - inland waterways with access to coastal sea areas

During the first five-year plan, the Central Research Institute was organized in Leningrad water transport(TsNIIVT) and the State Institute of Design and Surveys for Water Transport (Giprovodtrans).
The development of river transport required solving the problem of management personnel. In 1930, the Gorky and Leningrad Institutes of Water Transport Engineers were created. From the first days of the foundation of the institutes, professors V. E. Lyakhnitsky, I. V. Yaropolsky, V. M. Makkaveev, M. F. Klochanov, B. Yu. Kalinovich, V. V. Zvonkov, Yu . P. Biryukov, I. A. Ponomarev, V. L. Lychkovsky, M. I. Volsky, I. N. Sivertsev, M. Ya. Alferev, N. K. Ponomarev, G. V. Trinkler and others. The Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers (MNIT) and the Moscow Institute of National Economy named after G.V. Plekhanov played a role in training command personnel for river transport.
The implementation of technical reconstruction of river transport, improvement of management and organization of transportation made it possible to significantly increase the volume of transportation of goods and passengers. Cargo transportation in 1932 amounted to 44.3 million tons, or 142% of the level of 1913 and 243% of the level of 1928. In addition, 20 million tons of timber were delivered along the rivers in self-rafting rafts. By the end of the first five-year plan, river transport Soviet Union in terms of transportation volume it came out on top in Europe and on second place in the world, second only to river transport in the USA. An extremely important restructuring of the organizational structure of water transport management was carried out. The People's Commissariat of Water Transport - People's Commissariat of Water Transport - was separated from the People's Commissariat of Railways.
In the second five-year plan (1933-1937), the length of waterways increased mainly due to the development of small rivers. By 1937, the length of the operating tracks was 101.1 thousand km, 89.9 thousand km had conditions, 57.6 thousand km had lighting; the length of sections with guaranteed depths was 24.2 thousand km.
Work continued on the construction of canals. In June 1933, transit shipping along the White Sea-Baltic Canal was opened. The route from the Baltic Sea to the White Sea was shortened by 4000 km and passed through the territory of our country only. The total length of the connecting route is 227 km; There are 19 locks on the route. The canal was built in a record time - 20 months.
In July 1937, passenger and cargo ship traffic opened along the Moscow-Volga Canal, which is 128 km long. The construction of the canal was led by the talented hydraulic engineer S. Ya. Zhuk. In 1947, the canal was renamed the Moscow Canal.
With the commissioning of this canal, Moscow received a stable source of water supply; a main, deep-sea route was created, connecting Moscow with the Volga basin by the shortest route, and through the Volga and other systems - with the Baltic, White and Caspian seas. The canal made it possible to bring oil, coal, metal, grain from the southern regions to the capital by water, and timber from the north, Construction Materials and other cargo; export the products of Moscow industry to many regions of the country. The waterway from Moscow to Leningrad and Gorky was reduced by 1100 and 110 km, respectively. In 1934, the construction of a lock system with four waterworks on the river was completed. Sozh, which was of great importance for the national economy of Belarus.
In the second five-year plan, the construction of a series of ships begun in previous years continued; new types of ships were also built: double-deck cargo-passenger ships with a power of 300 kW for 500 passengers, cargo-passenger motor ships with a power of 515 and 210 kW with various passenger capacities (Sormovo plant) for the Moscow-Volga canal, tugboats with a power of 110-220 kW, barges of various carrying capacities . Most metal ships had an all-welded hull, which reduced construction time and metal consumption. In the total volume of non-self-propelled fleet construction, wooden shipbuilding accounted for another 86.7% (in terms of carrying capacity).

Closed bilge barge - cement tanker. Designed for transportation of bulk cargo on the Volga and Kama rivers

To simplify shipbuilding technology, reduce costs and improve operating conditions for ships, the People's Commissariat of Water Supply established a minimum number of types of ships for construction in 1936 and 1937: 16 types of self-propelled ships and 10 types of non-self-propelled ones.
But the need for courts was far from being fully covered. In this regard, much attention was paid to the further development of shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises, the expansion and creation of powerful ship repair bases at cargo-generating points was carried out* In 1934, the construction of the Astrakhan slipway for the repair of oil barges with a carrying capacity of 12 thousand tons was completed. The Moscow Shipbuilding and Shiprepair Plant was put into operation, in 1937 the Khlebnikovsky Shiprepair Plant was reconstructed, factories on the Volga (Teplokhod, Balakovsky), on the Dnieper (Kherson), on the Kama (Chistopolsky and in Memory of Dzerzhinsky), on the Yenisei (Krasnoyarsky) and etc. Wooden shipyards are being built, which was due to an acute shortage of metal in the country. By the end of the second five-year plan, 185 enterprises - ship repair yards, workshops and shipyards - were operating in river transport.
The construction of equipped berths in river ports continued, and the level of mechanization of transshipment operations increased. Berths were built in Leningrad, Moscow (in the Northern and Western ports), Gorky, Stalingrad, Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Ufa, Omsk, Novosibirsk and other cities. The number of cranes, conveyors and other mechanisms in river ports has more than doubled. The use of reloading machines and equipment has improved. Mechanization of labor-intensive cargo work has more than doubled - from 11.9 to 24.8%. However, the overall level of development of the port and marina sector remained low, which hampered the growth of the fleet's carrying capacity.
The dispatch system for managing the fleet's operations was expanded. By 1936, the total length of the communication line increased by 1.6 times compared to 1932. Large radio stations came into operation in Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, Kuibyshev, Kama Ustye, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, which had a direct connection with Moscow.
In the second five-year plan, the Stakhanov movement began on river transport. Among the crews of transport ships, the initiators of this movement were the crew of the tug oil carrier "Stepan Razin" (captain N.I. Chadayev and mechanic N.V. Banatov). During the navigation of 1935, the ship's crew for the first time sailed a train of barges coupled together in the wake with a total carrying capacity of 34 thousand tons, surpassing the performance of American oil carriers of equal capacity.
In 1933-1934. The transition to a navigator system began, which contributed to the improvement of the organization of fleet movement.
Work practice has shown that the functional structure of the management structure in river transport did not correspond to the conditions of those years. To manage the activities of shipping companies in the People's Commissariat of Water, four central production and territorial departments of river transport were formed: Volzhsko-Kama, Northern, Southern and Eastern. 24 shipping companies began to manage the work of all transit ships, ports, piers, factories, sections of the route and communications, and construction organizations. Large piers were entrusted with the management of local transportation.
In the second five-year plan, special attention was paid to the development of water transport in the eastern regions of the country.
By the end of the five-year plan, the volume of transportation amounted to 66.9 billion tons, cargo turnover - 33.3 billion tons km.
In the third five-year plan (1938-1942), important tasks were assigned to the river fleet. The XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) emphasized that the main task in the field of transport is to increase the share of water transport in the country’s total cargo turnover.
In 1939, to improve transport management, the People's Commissariat of Water Transport was divided into the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of the Marine Fleet of the USSR. The creation of the People's Commissariat of River Transport was an important prerequisite for improving the operation of river transport and maximizing the use of its internal reserves. The People's Commissariat of the River Fleet included 33 river shipping companies, 20 basin directorates, 20 shipping inspections and 14 inspections of the USSR River Register, and a number of large factories.

Three-deck car-carrying barge. Transports up to 440 Moskvich and Zhiguli cars

The third five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR provided for the further development of river transport, including the reconstruction of waterways and bringing them into line with the requirements of navigation, the development of flow regulation schemes to improve navigation conditions on the Volga, Don and Dnieper rivers.
During the third five-year plan, the Rybinsk, Uglich and Kuibyshevsky (due to the war, construction was suspended) hydroelectric complexes were built. In the spring of 1941, the filling of the Rybinsk Reservoir began. The section of the Volga from Uglich to Rybinsk also became deep-water, and the water regime of the Upper and Middle Volga became regulated. Construction work was also carried out on the western section of the Manych waterway, the Dniester, Kuban and other rivers.
In 1940, instead of the old Dnieper-Bugskaya water system A new lockable Dnieper-Bug canal, 210 km long, was built, connecting Pripyat (near Pinsk) with the Western Bug (near Brest).
In 1938-1940 Main Directorate of the Northern sea ​​route were transferred to the People's Commissariat of River Fleet for the exploitation of the lower reaches of the Ob, Taza and Pura rivers, the Ob and Taz bays, the river. Yenisei with its tributaries (from Igarka to Dikson), river. Pyasina with tributaries.
The length of shipping routes reached 98.1 thousand km in 1940. Taking into account river routes operated by other organizations, by the end of 1940 it amounted to 108.9 thousand km, including 101.3 thousand km with navigable conditions, of which 69.6 thousand km with light.
As a result of the construction of large hydraulic structures, the formation of reservoirs and changes in shipping conditions, the need arose for the reconstruction of the river fleet and the production of new types of vessels.
The creation in the spring of 1939 of the Technical Department and the independent River Register of the USSR as part of the People's Commissar of River Fleet, and of the Technical Council under the People's Commissar, was aimed at increasing the level of development of the material and technical base of the industry and, first of all, the transport fleet. At the beginning of the five-year plan, the main directions for the technical reconstruction of the fleet were developed, providing for reducing the construction cost of ships, increasing their speed, introducing more advanced types of power plants, improving hull contours, etc. The task was set to increase the share of self-propelled cargo fleet, including screw vessels , as part of a non-self-propelled fleet - metal barges.
Since the end of 1939, the construction of river vessels at the factories of the People's Commissariat of River Fleet has been expanding. Total for 1938-1941 for river transport, 352 self-propelled vessels (including boats and gas ducts) with a total power of 47.7 thousand kW were built; the carrying capacity of the constructed non-self-propelled fleet was 810.5 thousand tons (85% wooden). However, in general, the level of development of the fleet has not yet fully met the challenges facing river transport.
The port and marina sector still held back the growth of transportation work. Further development of the ports and an increase in their mechanical equipment were required.
During the years of the third five-year plan, the construction of ports in Moscow, berths in Gorky and Stalingrad, the reconstruction of the Leningrad port, and the construction of a transshipment point in Voznesenye continued. At the end of 1940, preparatory work began for the construction and re-equipment of the ports of Kotlas, Arkhangelsk, etc.
In the southern basins, berths for bulk cargo were built in Kyiv, a transshipment point in Dneprodzerzhinsk, and a pier in Chardzhou.
In the regions of Siberia and the Far North were built river berths on the Yenisei - in Igarka, Dudinka and Krasnoyarsk, cargo berths in Novosibirsk and on the Angara.
People's Commissariat of River Transport has expanded the production of mechanisms for reloading operations at its enterprises. Floating loaders, bilge lifts, and pneumatic grain loaders appeared. The technology of transshipment work was improved, mechanization was introduced in the transshipment of coal, salt, grain, and timber.
During the years of the Third Five-Year Plan, certain successes were achieved in the construction of ports, marinas and their equipment. However, a significant reduction in the gap between carrying capacity

Pusher-tug "Marshal Blucher" type:
power 2940 kW, speed with a train 15.7 km/h, purpose - pushing and towing heavy trains along the main rivers of the central basins

the fleet and the capacity of ports and marinas did not change. The level of development of this branch of the river transport economy was still low. In 1940, with a total length of the berth front of 114 km, permanent berths (reinforced concrete and stone walls) amounted to only 6.9 km.
In 1939, more than half of the waterways of the central basins were provided with telephone intercom. Almost all shipping company departments had telephone exchanges. At the end of 1940, the Communications Directorate of the People's Commissariat of River Fleet developed a broad program for the further development of communications, according to which work began on the Volga on the suspension of bimetallic chains, allowing for multi-channel high-frequency communications all the way from Moscow to Astrakhan; on the Dnieper, the same work was carried out on the Kyiv-Kherson section. All main radio lines were transferred to simultaneous transmissions in two opposite directions. However, despite significant work on the development of communications, in many shipping companies there were not enough of them.
Work was carried out to rationalize transportation. Elements of a route transportation system were introduced, which provided for the formation of trains according to the type of cargo and the draft of the vessels in order to ensure non-transshipment traffic from the point of departure to the point of destination. The route system required strict adherence to ship schedules and schedules and significantly simplified dispatch management. By the end of navigation in 1939, the route system was introduced for the transportation of oil along the Volga, and then other bulk cargo - bread, coal, cement.
During the navigation of 1940, non-stop maintenance of the transport fleet on the move began to develop - supplying fuel, lubricants, equipment, etc. using self-propelled auxiliary vessels. This contributed to improving the use of the fleet and increasing its carrying capacity.
In the pre-war years, the dispatch system for managing the transport process became clearer and more effective; the Regulations on the organization and dispatch management of the movement and operation of the river transport fleet were introduced (1939). Strict adherence to schedules and traffic patterns has become the main task of river transport workers.
Since 1939, there has been a significant increase in transportation. River transport mainly met the needs of the national economy; cargo transportation in mixed rail and water transport increased, which in 1940 reached 5.7 million tons. The structure of transportation changed significantly. In general, the share of dry cargo ships, especially mineral construction materials - sand, gravel, stone, as well as cement, increased, which was associated with the large scale of industrial and civil construction.
The number of passengers transported by river transport increased from 1937 to 1940 by 15.8%, and passenger turnover by 18.7%. Passenger service has noticeably improved.
During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, the length of the exploited waterways increased significantly, their equipment with a technical fleet increased, the depths on the main rivers increased significantly, and a number of artificial waterways - canals were created that connected the basins of individual rivers. The transport fleet was significantly replenished - the number of self-propelled vessels increased by 2.4 times compared to 1928, and non-self-propelled ones by almost 3 times.
The industrial base of the industry has expanded. Instead of the old semi-handicraft workshops, over 200 large enterprises have been created, capable of not only repairing, but also building ships.
Ports have been established in a number of large coastal cities; The share of mechanized cargo processing has increased 14 times over the five-year plans.
The use of the fleet has improved significantly, which was facilitated by new forms of labor organization, the initiative of advanced teams of ships, and the development of socialist competition.
The material well-being of river workers increased: labor supply bodies were created, housing and cultural construction expanded; revised system wages etc.

Pusher-tug for rivers of the eastern basins:
power 1765 kW, speed with a train 15 km/h, purpose - pushing and towing trains weighing up to 18 thousand tons on the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, Amur rivers

Much work has been done to train engineering and technical personnel, and the training of qualified personnel for mass professions has improved.

The river arteries of the Far North were developed: Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, Khatanga, and the mouth of the Lena. Transportation in the Ob and Yenisei river basins has increased. Navigation was expanded in remote basins: on the Amur, Ili, Amu Darya, Selenge, Upper Irtysh, Ural, Pechora rivers, on Balkhash and Issyk-Kul lakes.

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