 In July 1932, with the conversion complete, the ship and its catcher ships started their maiden voyage to their home port of Vladivostok.Realizing they would not make it home in time for the whaling season (which by that time was already half-over) they instead decided to undertake “test whaling” off the Revillagigedo Islands, and during the journey from the Revillagigedos to Hawaii they killed 21 whales.The first full whaling season began in 1933, and the first whale killed, a sperm whale, was taken on May 28, 1933.