Renamed Carmania in 1963
In 1951 Cunard decided to build a completely new class of ship for the Liverpool-Montreal route, the Saxonia was the first of these to be completed. The others were the Sylvania, Ivernia and Carinthia. The ship was launched on 17 February 1954 by Lady Churchill. Statistics published around this time showed that during the years 1954-56 the number of passengers crossing the Atlantic by sea had remained static but the number of those travelling by air had grown by 100,000 a year. Despite the uneasy outlook Cunard had already invested £21 million in these four ships. The Saxonia made it's maiden voyage, on the Liverpool-Quebec-Montreal route, on 2 September, 1954.
Industrial disputes during June 1955 caused some disruption to the service and the following year both the Saxonia and the Ivernia were transferred to Southampton. Besides this the Saxonia's ran smoothly. By 1962, however, Cunard announced that company losses had led to the decision to recondition the ship and make it suitable for the more lucrative cruising market. After reconditioning work had been completed on the Clyde, raising the ship's tonnage to 22,592 tons, it was decided to rename it the Carmania. The refit, which was completed by Spring 1963, had meant the installation of air-conditioning throughout, the addition of lido area and sun terrace and a general upgrading of the passenger's accommodation and public rooms. The ship could now carry 600 passengers.
After the ship had been inspected by Sir John Brocklebank, during April 1963, it was announced that during the Summer months it would run between Rotterdam and Montreal and during the Winter it would cruise from Florida to the Caribbean. Although the sailings were initially well booked, the success did not last and industrial disputes in the coming years hampered the company's progress. Despite this Carmania continued in Cunard service but now spent most of it's time cruising. When the ship cruising from Port Everglades, during 1968, problems with US fire regulations led to the cancellation of it's Winter cruise. Cunard took advantage of this to make some minor modifications to the ship before it's next sailing in January 1969.
During the subsequent cruise it ran aground on a sandbank off San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, leading to the cancellation of yet another cruise.
After repairs at Virgina the ship returned to Southampton where an inquiry decided that there was a fault in the Admiralty chart of the area. Three months after returning to service the ship collided with the Russian ship Frunze, but fortunately damage to both vessels was only minor. Soon, in December 1971, the ship was laid up at Southampton. After rumours that the ship was to be bought by buyers, firstly from Japan and then from Hong Kong, it soon became clear that there was no immediate purchaser. In May 1972 the Carmania and it's sister ship, now the Franconia, were moved to Falmouth for further lay up. It was not until August 1973 that agents for the Russian Black Sea Shipping Company bought the vessels. The Carmania was renamed Leonid Sobinov.
After a refit on the Tyne it was moved to Australia where it was to cruise between the UK and Australia during the Summer months. In December 1979, when Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, the Australian Government banned Russian ships from their ports. The ship left in February 1980 and sailed to Vladivostock. In Summer 1980 it is believed that the ship was being used by the Cuban Government to transport troops to Angola.
Updated: July 23, 2004
