There are two tall ships by the name of Gorch Fock ( who was an influential German poet in the early 20th century). This incarnation was built in 1933 as a training vessel for the German Navy, the other being the current one. Gorch Fock (I) is a sister ship to USCGC Eagle ( formerly the Horst Wessel), Sagres (formerly Albert Leo Schlageter, Mircea ( has always belonged to the Romanian Navy and the Herbert Norkus (unfinished hulk). These ships were given to the US,Portugal and Russia as war reparations. Hence it was renamed Tovarishch and used by the Soviet Navy as training vessel. It was returned to Germany in 1999 and currently is a museum/restoration project.