The ship was 85.19 m (279 ft 6 in) long, with a beam of 13.49 m (44 ft 3 in). She had a depth of 4.78 m (15 ft 8 in). She was assessed as 1,925 GRT, 936 NRT,[1] 3,118 DWT.[2]
The ship was propelled by a compound steam engine, which had two cylinders of 42 cm (169⁄16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (357⁄16 inches) diameter by 90 cm (357⁄16 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Flensberger Schiffsbau-Geschellschaft.[1] Rated at 1,200IHP, it could propel the ship at 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).[3]
In 1946, Empire Gabon was allocated to the Soviet Union. She was renamed Ryazan.[5] Her port of registry was Riga and the Code Letters UKED were allocated.[7] On 12 November 1956, dockers at Liverpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom refused to work on Ryazan, which had arrived from Riga and was to load a cargo of rubber. They were angry at the situation in Hungary.[8][9] The dockers refused to load her cargo on to a Danish ship, saying "we won't handle any cargo for Russia".[10]Ryazan sailed for Riga on 19 November.[11] With their introduction in the 1960s, Ryazan was allocated the IMO Number 5294113.[2] She served until 1979, when she was sold to Echkardt & Co., Hamburg, West Germany and was renamed Rudi.[3] She was scrapped in 1979 at Santander, Spain.[2]
^"Prize Courts". The Times. No. 50245. London. 12 September 1945. col D, p. 1.
^ abMitchell, W H, and Sawyer, L A (1995). The Empire Ships. London, New York, Hamburg, Hong Kong: Lloyd's of London Press Ltd. p. not cited. ISBN1-85044-275-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)