The three-mast barque, Tovarishch was originally built in 1933 for the Imperial Germany Navy as Gorch Fock. During World War II, she was anchored in Stralsund, then resumed service in 1944. In 1945, she was scuttled in shallow waters off Rugen to avoid being captured by the Soviets. In 1948, she was taken as war reparations by the Soviet Union and renamed Tovarishch. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she was briefly under Ukrainian ownership, but was returned to Germany in 2003.