SAGA OF THE SOVIET LEND-LEASE SHIPS IN WORLD WAR II.

The article focuses on the transfer, use, and postwar disposition of merchant ships provided by the United States to the Soviet Union under the World War II Lend-Lease program. A total of 116 merchant ships, including forty-one Liberty ship variants, were transferred in three waves between 1942 and 1945, with twenty returned during the war due to mechanical issues. Contrary to some assumptions, the Soviets returned a number of ships after the war, including seven modern tankers in 1948, but most Liberty dry-cargo ships remained in Soviet service through the 1960s. The final resolution of the Lend-Lease ship claims occurred in 1972, with the last operational Lend-Lease vessels retired by 1978 and the last surviving ship scrapped after 2003.