The ferry Soviet Azerbaijan, c. 1963 -- Daily LIFT #1213
From the Soviet press, April 1963:
The new giant ferry Sovetsky Azerbaijan left on its maiden trip recently from a special pier in the port of Baku. It was built at the Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyards in Gorky and received its final touches in Baku.
The largest of its kind in Europe, the Sovetsky Azerbaijan has a displacement of 6,000 tons and an over- all length of 440 feet. Its 7,200- horsepower engines develop a speed of 16 nautical miles per hour. The upper deck has cabins for 300 passengers, a large salon, a restaurant, a barbershop, a postal and telegraph office, and a nursery.
The lower part of the hull is a completely closed in railway deck. As the liner approaches the pier, an 18-ton lid opens in the stern. The rails on the ferry and shore are lined up, a locomotive pushes the cars — carrying a capacity load of 2,200 metric tons onto the deck, and the lid closes. The ferry will substantially reduce freight haulage costs across the Caspian.