Gorch Fock is the second German tall ship of that name, a name which has originated from the nickname of an author of sea stories Johann Willhelm Kinau.
The first of the tall ships was built in the famous Blohm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1933. The same shipyard which built Prinzess Eitel Friedrich, future Dar Pomorza, in 1909. Together with her twin ships Horst Wessel (now Eagle, USA) and Albert Leo Schlageter (now Sagres, Portugal), she was one of sail training ships operated by the German Navy. Towards the end of the Second World War, while stationed in Stralsund, Gorch Fock was scuttled by her own crew. They preferred to scuttle it rather than to pass it to the approaching Red Army. This, however, was futile, as two years later Soviets lifted the ship, repaired her and put into service under the name of Tovarishch.
