Post-war career
After Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945, UK forces seized Duala at Flensburg.[5] She became the property of the UK Ministry of War Transport, who renamed her Empire Ock after the River Ock, a tributary of the River Thames. She was registered in London; her UK official number was 180588; her call sign was GJZR; and City Line were her managers.[3]
In 1946, Empire Ock was transferred to the Soviet Ministry of the Maritime Fleet, who renamed her Пётр Великий ("Pyotr Velikiy"), after Tsar Peter the Great, and registered her in Leningrad (now St Petersburg). The name has been romanised with different spellings. Lloyd's Register used Peotr Veliki in 1946; but was using Petr Veliki by 1951.[7] Other renditions include Petr Velikiy[5] and Petr Veliky.[8]
In 1947 the USSR gave the ship to Poland, where the Gdynia America Line became her owners, and she was renamed Jagiełło, after King Władysław II Jagiełło. She was registered in Gdynia, and her call sign was SPEN. She never visited Gdynia. She spent a year being refitted in Genoa, and then in 1948 entered service under Cosulich Line management; and with a mostly Italian crew; and just a few Polish officers and specialists. Her route was between Genoa and Colón, Panama, via ports of call including Lisbon and Havana.[8]
The service was a commercial failure, so in 1949 Poland returned Jagiełło to the USSR, who reverted her name to Pyotr Velikiy.[7] She was registered in Odessa; her call sign was UVSA; and her Soviet register number was M-2381.[1] She joined the fleet of the Black Sea Shipping Company, who used her on passenger routes, mainly between Odessa; Sochi; and Batumi. She operated along with the passenger ship Gruziya, which had been the Polish MS Sobieski.[6][8] In 1953 she was refitted in Odessa. In 1969 Lloyd's Register introduced seven-figure registration numbers, and Pyotr Velikiy was numbered 5276185.[1]
On 20 November 1973, Pyotr Velikiy arrived in Castellón de la Plana, Spain, to be broken up by M Varela Davalillo.[1][9]
