GTMS Fritz Heckert
The GTMS Fritz Heckert was the only cruise ship of East Germany (GDR).
The ship was intended to be available to East German workers , was built on the initiative of the Free German Trade Union (FDGB) and launched in 1960. The ship was managed by VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock.
After several resales, it was last called Gulf Fantasy and was scrapped in Mumbai in 1999.
History
[edit]The construction of the FDGB holiday ship was initiated by shipyard workers of MTW Wismar in Berlin in July 1958. The ship was largely financed by voluntary labor as well as by donations of goods and money from the GDR population and several Volkseigener Betriebe. Technical planning began on October 1, 1958, and construction started on April 30, 1959.
On November 28, 1959, the ship was laid down at the Mathias-Thesen shipyard in Wismar under the working name "Solidarity" and, under the responsibility of the construction manager Georg Kasupke, was completed eight months in advance and equipped in an extremely modern manner for the time. The ship was launched on June 25, 1960, and christened "Fritz Heckert". Fritz Hecker was a German communist and union leader. The official and ceremonial takeover by DSR took place on May 1, 1961.[1]
From 1965 onwards, the ship and crew were regularly leased to Swedish, Danish or Icelandic travel companies for foreign currency (Devisen). The GDR rejected contracts with cruise operators from West Germany for political reasons. To conceal the ship's origin, the Swedish operator called the ship „Stockholm“ in its catalogs.[2]
From 1986 it served the VEB Kombinat Kernkraftwerk Bruno Leuschner (VEB nuclear power station Lubmin) in Lubmin near Greifswald as an accommodation ship.[3]
At the beginning of 1991, the Hamburg-based company Gulf-Offshore-Engineering became the new owner of the ship, having it converted into a hotel ship. From then on, it was used as such in the United Arab Emirates under the name Gulf Fantasy under changing owners. On March 4, 1999, the ship was taken to Mumbai for scrapping.
Ship
[edit]The twin-screw gas turbine motor vessel (Gas-Turbinen Motor Schiff GMTS) was a passenger ship with an amidships engine and two side-by-side exhaust posts. The drive system of the ship was a combination of diesel engine and gas turbine. These propulsion was used on a passenger ship for the first time worldwide. The GDR wanted to prove its „world-class“ capabilities. However, the gas turbine often fails in daily use.[2]
It had a long amidships superstructure with an upper deck extending from bow to stern. The ship had no cargo holds. The ship's hull was divided into 12 compartments by 11 transverse bulkheads. The steel ship's hull was fully welded.[1]
The air conditioning had to be turned off during shows because it was far too loud.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "GTMS FRITZ HECKERT - Seeleute Rostock". www.seeleute-rostock.de. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
- 1 2 3 "Friede den schwimmenden Palästen". www.mare.de (in German). Retrieved 2026-08-18.
- ↑ "FDGB Urlauberschiffe der DDR". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
