5 lats coin coins were never minted as the Second World War broke out. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, lats continued to circulate alongside the Soviet ruble, although silver coins had largely disappeared from circulation. (Even prior to the war, Latvian people had started to hoard silver coins to prepare for the imminent crisis.) On 25 March 1941, all denominations of lats were abruptly annulled. As the general society was given no prior warning, an estimated 50 million lats were never exchanged for rubles. The people were left with suddenly-worthless coins and bills, except for sentimental value and the silver
Baltic (tug) Baltic (tug) The Baltic is a German emergency tow vessel (ETV) commissioned in 2010. The vessel which was built in Spain by Astilleros Armon is owned by Arbeitsgemeinschaft Küstenschutz of Germany, a consortium of tugboat companies. The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development of Germany has chartered the vessel to protect the German coastline. The "Baltic" replaced the tugboat "Fairplay 26" as an ETV and operates from Warnemünde in the western Baltic Sea. She was commissioned on 24 September 2010. The Baltic features a bollard pull of 127 tons and a maximum speed of . In October 2010,