PORT INFORMATION ON ODESSA BAY, BLACK SEA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A008300460001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2007
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 1, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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This material contains Information affecting the
INFORMATION REPORT
National Defense of the United States within the
meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U. S. C.
PREPARED AND DISSEMINATED BY
Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation
of which In any manner
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
son Is prohibited by la
COUNTRY
SUBJECT DATE DISTRIBUTED
,a 0 h&
Port Information on Odessa Bay, Black Sea NO, OF PAGES I NO. 6F ENCLS. 25X
X
SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT #-
RESPONSIVE TO
25,
HIS I 'INFORMATION
i
The Office of Naval Intelligence furnished the following information to ~CTA
IAC dissemination in accordance with par aph 3c ofSCIB7) 25
for
APPROACH
25
a merchant vessel arrived at
l
?
the entrance to the harbor Odessa Bay at 2200, 1 Dec 55, an called for
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a pilot. The ship was requested, b signal li t to anchor until the ilot I
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rived in the area marked Point 1
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The pilot, accompanied by a male doctor,
finally arrived at 2000, 19 Dec 55. From area 1 -_ to the berth, the pilot,,
'
used the course indicated on the overlay by the dotted line marked 2.
the doctor cleared it through quarantine by
en route
w
hi
,
as
p
While the s
asking several questions on the health of the crew and filling out some forms.
2. The ground at the anchorag d of mud and sand, and its holding
bile proceeding to the berth
utilities were very good.
~a small military patrol vessel an a at the point marked 3 This
vessel was approximately 90 feet in length, painted a dark gray, and it
carried a two-and-a-half inch gun forward- It appeared to be stationed there
as a security vessel. Another patrol vessel a little larger and a little
bout 150-160 feet long,
t
I
was a
+. This craf
older was seen in the area marked
d carried a four-inch gun forward and numer-
was also painted a dark gray, an
in other parts of the ship. It was cruising in the waters
ous 20 caliber guns
off Cape Fontan and flying two,pennants which were checked in the international
"
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code book and found to mean "adjusting . ite?
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LJMITED: Dissemination limited to full-time employees of CIA, AEC and FBI; and, within State and Defense, to the intelligence components, other
offices producing NIS elements, and higher echelons with their immediate supporting staffs. Not to be disseminated to consultants, external projects
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unless the written permission of the originating office has been obtained through the Assistant Director for Collection and Dissemination, CIA.
NAVY review
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3. The; ship was moored, without use of a tug, directly in front of a barge at
point marked No 5. The ship did not require a tug the entire time it was
in Odessa. The dock to which the ship was tied could handle two medium-
sized ships.. Quays marked on the overlay as Nos 6, 7, and 8, are capable
of handling ships on both sides. The number of ships each of these quays
could handle at one time was not determined. At the end of quay 8 was a
new passenger dock, marked No 9 on the overlay. There were no ships
tied up here at the time.
4. Farther up the harbor at a point marked 10 is an oil dock capable of handl-
ing fairly large-sized ships. Quay marked U is also an oil dock capable
of loading ships up to 18 thousand tons.
were in port. The only ships seen were two or three ships tied up at
points Nos 12, 13 and 14. No identifying data on these ships was noticed.
5. The breakwater marked No 15 on the overlay has been extended as indicated,,.
to be completed. The other breakwater, No 16 on the overlay,
had been repaired, although not completely finished -- that is, the rocks
had just been stacked and the top not leveled off. Inasmuch as there was no,
evidence of work being done, source believed it would be left as it was.
6. No harbor craft other than tugs were seen. Two of the harbor tugs were new,
in good condition, and capable of turning about 600 to 700 horsepower. They
carried the usual hammer and sickle emblem on their stacks. They were with-
out tows. Numerous small tugs were seen moving about the harbor. There
were no naval craft except for the two patrol vessels mentioned previously
in this report.
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8. The security guards who boarded the ship when it docked secured only the
ship's radio transmitter. They informed the crew that they could retain
heir cameras and film and take any pictures they wished to. Several o le
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security regulations had certainly-been relaxed since his last voyage.
Upon arrival the guards collected passports from the crew, and from the
captain a list of all foreign monies in possession of the crew. This was
followed by a request that all the money be counted in their presence.
This was as far as they went, for there was no restriction on the amount
of money a man could take ashore and spend. However, they stipulated that
any unused Soviet money be exchanged prior to the ship's departure.
10. The passports were returned to the ship two hours later, with a pass for
each man to use to go ashore. They were on white paper and contained the
man's name and position and the signature and stamp of the security officer.
When a man left the ship, a guard stationed at the bottom of the gangway
tore the pass in half and retained one portion, which was given back to
the man when he returned to the ship. These passes were collected before
the ship left the harbor.
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m 3 a
11. Guards in dark green uniforms and equipped with rifles and fired bayonets
were stationed all around the dock.
DOCK
12m The docks held up by pilings in very poor condition' s surfaced with
asphalt. The shed, located an shown on the chart.. were e , two-story
buildings , Where the third shed is shown an the chart and marked No 17
on the overlays coal is piled. An electric crane with a capacity of 10
to 15 tons,, which assisted the offloading of the cargo from the ships is
used primarily to handle the coal. Four or five other cranes of the same
capacity were seen on quay marked No 6. This "coal dock" was very dirty,
with anR several inches deep In places.
13. The ship?s 18 hundred tons of Moroccan oranges were off-loaded in four
days by gangs working 24 hours a day using the ship's gear and the crane
described above. The orange crates were placed on pallets in the ship's
bold and moved to very new and modern aluminum refrigerated railway care
by what appeared to be World War 11 US-built fork lifts. The railway
cars used standard-gauge tracks and were moved by the electric cranes
and fork lifts.
STEMMING
14. To unload the cargo the Soviets used two gangs made up of four men each:
one man in the hold, one on the dock and two working the winches. The
men working the winches would alternately race down into the hold to help
the men there load the pallets and run back up to operate the winches.
rocess was slowv(500 tons per 24-hour day), these men did the
load ga
g p
un
work of twice their nurr. . When they began unloading the lover holds..
two more men per gam were armed and the men on the winches no longer
assisted the loading of the pallets. Once pallets were placed in the
railway cars,, dock workers took over the unlosAing of the pallets. The
supervisors and v of the dock workers were win.
The theater was a little over half foals? w
hundred people in attendances
15. Liberty was unrestricted,, and most of t crew took advantage of it. ~
ie
v
nta
op +as the Soviet shipping a
one might o see an at tbm insiste a of
An omnibus,, in very poor condition,, took them the opera house in town.
The seats consisted of benches reaming around the inside of the bus.
16. The opera house was very old and run- fl but in spite of this it showed
indications of having been a beautiful edifice some 30 or 40 years ago .
The interior was in the saw ru'n'down caandiitiOn. The benches were old and
hard, and the go?-an in the r (there were no carpets) were beveled
out from wear . equivalent to t7 for a seat
in the front row. There were foams co es which ran from one side of the
theater to ? other and included some box seats.
17. In one of the box seats along the side of the second bal ny there was a
of
well-decorated Soviet millitaxx?y as with enough gcon
high rank. He was whites-haired any, in his 50es and he carried a pair of
binoculars or opera glasses with which V,_ _~__+ Mnlro time watching the
audience than the actors on the stage. it" an es'tiama
18. The opera was pure propaganda. It began by depicting a scene before the
Revolution,, when the land was owned by a few "capitalists" for whom the
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rest of the people worked and to whom they were required to pay more in
rent and taxes than they could produce. The scene opened with women on
their knees praying to their master to.forgive their husbands.. who were
being taken away and killed because they were unable to pay their and taxes. The opera then showed the great improvement in conditions
in the USSR after the Revolution.
19. During the intermission soft drinks of bottled fruit juices and bread 25X1
were av Alsible in the foyer. The opera began at 2000 and had not ended
at 0030
the singing and that the actors V7 re mood. There were no cabs o 25X1
busses available after the show. 25X1
using the stairway marked No 18 on the overlay, to get down -to 25X1
e water level.
20. Living conditions were still very poor and prices very high in relation
to what an individual had in take-home pay. The buildings still looked
as they did many years ago., except where the effects of wear and tear
were in evidence.
22. The receiver of the cargo was INFLOT, which was represented a male
and a female agent who spoke very good English.
23. Every night women representatives from the International Seaman's Club
came aboard the ship to invite crew members to the Club. These hostesses
were very good looking, spoke good English, and were loaded with propaganda.
aboard., accepted
advances
a which again reflects
inks and stayed longer than they should have.,
e.fewd ,
the lessening of the restrictions.
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LIMITED
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 Approved For Release 2007/06/29: CIA-RDP80-00926AO08300460001-4
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