Soviet Union building cargo ships with electric propulsion according to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf dated 13 February 1941

An item dated Moscow the 13rth reported the launching of two electric powered ships at the shipyard Marty at Odessa. The deputy people’s commissar for the merchant marine Lesovikof stated that these ocean going freighters with electric propulsion were to be added in 1942 to the merchant marine. They were able to go from the Soviet Union to the USA or the Far East and returning without needing to load fuel underway.