Lavrinenkov

General Lavrinenkov: construction and changing names

The General Lavrinenkov is documented under the identifiers RRR 222708 and IMO 8963595. The river vessel was built in 1990 at the Elbewerft shipyard in Boizenburg as a vessel of the Dmitriy-Furmanov class, Project 302. It is 129.10 meters long and 16.70 meters wide. Its name commemorates Soviet fighter pilot and general Vladimir Lavrinenkov (1919–1988). The ship is also listed as Lavrinenkov. The name Excellence Katharina was added later: following the extensive modernization described in 2016, the former General Lavrinenkov was marketed under this name.

Reconstruction and passenger areas

The design bureau Stapel describes the redesign of the Project 302 vessel built in 1990 as project R6371. The passenger decks were replanned and the superstructure enlarged. The plans called for double-occupancy cabins with private bathrooms, some of which had balconies. The converted configuration is stated to have a capacity of 184 passengers. Air conditioning and updated safety systems were also among the documented changes.

A contemporary travel account by Gloria Grant in International Travel News records a voyage in July 2004 under the name General Lavrinenkov. The author recounts a two-week trip with Viking River Cruises from Kyiv along the Dnieper and the Crimean coast. She describes the cabins as small but efficiently designed, and mentions that the air-conditioning units sometimes stopped working. Passengers could spend time outdoors on the sun deck, and a small library was available for reading. According to her account, the entertainment program included a quiz, talks on history, politics, and cuisine, tours of the bridge and galley, piano music, and a seven-member shipboard band.

In addition to Kyiv, the travel account describes stops in Dnipropetrovsk, Nova Kakhovka, and Odessa, among other places, as well as excursions in the surrounding areas.