Perhaps there is no more romantic and dramatic episode in the history of the former Soviet Union than the development of the Far North. The need for this was paramount: in those parts lies a huge amount of minerals that the industry of the young state badly needed. In addition, data on the study of those places were very much needed by scientists, as they made it possible to consider the stages of development of the entire planet.
In a word, it was necessary to somehow get to the destination. In the conditions of the most severe climate and complete lack of roads, the best way out was to use sea routes, only the navigation season in those parts is extremely short. The risk of being trapped in the ice was great.
It was then that the world-famous Soviet ice drifting fleet arose. One of its most significant representatives was the Arktika icebreaker, whose history this article is devoted to. This ship is so unique that you can safely dedicate a whole book to it! If you read this article, you will surely agree with us on this.
Short specification
The ship has extremely high and strong sides, four decks at once and two cargo platforms. Forplacement of controls and command personnel, a five-tier deck superstructure is used. The huge ship is set in motion by three propellers at once (each with four blades). In the central part of the icebreaker there is a steam turbine, steam for which is generated using a nuclear reactor. For the manufacture of the latter, all the theoretical and practical developments that the nuclear industry of the Union had accumulated by that time were used.
The feature of the whole structure is the body made of high quality alloy steel. Just think: the whole huge structure is made of such an expensive and incredibly durable material! In those places that in practice are subjected to the greatest ice pressure, protection is provided, the so-called ice belt, which is a reinforcement of the structure by building up a layer of the main ship's hull.
Other ship systems
An important structural part that distinguishes the icebreaker "Arktika" are the trim and roll systems. For towing, which often had to be performed by the ship's crew, a whole towing area located at the stern of the ship is intended. There was also a helipad. As a rule, the Mi-8 was used in campaigns, which was indispensable for long-range reconnaissance and finding ships stuck in the ice.
An important feature of the vessel is the extremely perfect automation for its time, thanks to which the nuclear reactor could function for a long time in fullautonomous mode, without requiring constant and labor-intensive shifts. The sensors were also installed in the propulsion motor room, in the compartments of power plants, as well as in the main switchboards. The control of the central power plant was carried out from the command center, which was the wheelhouse.
It is located at the very top of the deck superstructure, as this position provides the most effective view. The width of the wheelhouse is about five meters, in length it stretched for all 30 meters. The front and side walls of the wheelhouse are almost completely covered with wide viewing windows. Oddly enough, but the list of equipment located in it is rather modest.
So, there are three completely identical control panels in the room, on which there are handles for controlling the direction of the ship's movement, as well as indicators showing the state of the position of all propellers and the rudder. There are buttons for giving a warning sound signal, devices for activating the mechanism for emptying the ballast tank. The picture is completed by the chart table, steering wheel, hydrology table and sonar stands.
Peak power - 55 MW, displacement is 23 thousand tons. The speed (under ideal conditions) can reach about 18 knots, the duration of a fully autonomous navigation is seven months.
History of Creation
The icebreaker Arktika itself, which is the lead ship of project 10520, was laid down in 1971year on the stocks of the B altic Shipyard. For the first time in the history of the Soviet fleet, the future crew of 150 people not only participated in the construction of the ship, but also could give advice in its design. This practice allowed sailors to master a completely new technique in record time. The crew was led by Captain Yu. S. Kuchiev.
He was an incredibly experienced captain who had sailed various types of icebreakers for over three decades. Already at the end of December 1972, the ship was launched, which is an absolutely record time for the construction of this kind.
Defense use case
The government of the USSR almost immediately decided that the Arktika icebreaker should have the technical capabilities to be used as a powerful Coast Guard cruiser. To achieve this, a set of large-caliber artillery weapons, devices for setting active jamming, as well as additional military-style radar equipment should have been installed on it. The "maximum program" also provided for testing in conditions close to combat.
After that, all military equipment was supposed to be removed and mothballed. It was planned to leave on the ship some of the weapons most needed and in demand in wartime, mothballing them in a special way (while maintaining the possibility of unpacking and bringing them into combat position as soon as possible).
In principle, if you look at a high-quality model of the Arktika icebreaker, you can see in its contours the outlines of a combatship. For the USSR, such militarization was not something new, because the country always remembered the experience of the 40s.
How such pace of ship construction was achieved
For a very long time, the designers thought about how to avoid the slightest delay in the construction of the ship. For this purpose, a separate operational headquarters was created, which worked under the command of Viktor Nilovich Shershnev. He made a decision: to carry out all the necessary tests at sea, without calling at the port, in one go.
It was planned to take on board all the necessary military specialists, as well as a separate team that was supposed to be responsible for small arms and artillery weapons. The crew immediately grew to 700 people, while the regular order on board provided for no more than 150 seats.
Designers and customer representatives had to work very hard to accommodate all the required personnel, while not offending anyone. For the sake of this, I had to stay in Leningrad for four days. During this time, the water level fell significantly below the level of the ordinary, despite the fact that for the successful withdrawal of the ship it was necessary to exceed it by 30-40 centimeters!
Bringing the ship to sea trials
Problems were avoided, if only because no one had to wait: the entire crew was in constant combat readiness, living right on board. They introduced a maritime routine, the ship was safely put out to sea. In mid-December 1974, a short and concise radiogram was received in Moscow and Leningrad: "The work is completed." Subsequentlythey joked that Kuchiev surpassed Caesar himself: so briefly report on the successful completion of sea trials of the most complex ship!
Hundreds of proposals were made to improve the running and mooring qualities of the icebreaker, and most of them were completely implemented by the designers "in hot pursuit". In April 1975, the first serious exit to the sea took place. This indicated that the Arktika icebreaker, whose photos are in the article, fully complies with all the requirements that were laid down at the design and sketch stage.
Already on April 25, 1975, when the ship was on the roadstead in the port of Tallinn, the state flag of the USSR was raised on it. Finally, an act was officially signed on the transfer of property to the fleet, after which the first icebreaker of the Arktika class went straight to Murmansk, where its port of registry was located. It was a triumph for the entire scientific and defense industry of a huge country.
In addition to the thousands of people who were directly involved in the construction of the vessel, more than 350 (!) Research, defense, oceanographic and hydrological institutes, design bureaus, research institutes throughout the country were involved in its design and experiments.
Passage along the Northern Sea Route
Even at the beginning of 1975, before its official acceptance, the Arktika icebreaker (see photo above) brilliantly navigated the Admiral Makarov (diesel-electric) icebreaker along the Northern Sea Route. Already at the beginning of next year, he literally snatched a similar ship from the captivity of ice hummocks"Ermak", and also saved the cargo ship "Captain Myshevsky" from certain death.
It was Arktika that took part in the rescue of the Leningrad icebreaker together with the transport ship Chelyuskin. The happy captain called this event the finest hour of the new ship, since only for the sake of these four cases it could be built.
Only two years of such active work convincingly proved that a completely unique flagship of its kind, the Arktika nuclear-powered icebreaker, entered the Soviet fleet. His model in those years was considered the most desirable prey for any Soviet boy. And for good reason, I must say! Not only the outstanding reliability of nuclear and other installations was demonstrated, but also the excellent seaworthiness of the ship. However, the restless captain Kuchiev knew that his “ward” was capable of more, and therefore demanded the preparation of a distant northern campaign. Soon his persistent requests were heard. The team began to prepare for a long-distance flight.
April 1977, experimental flight to Yamal
In 1976, the ship left the port of Murmansk, passing the reinforced vessel Pavel Ponomarev through the ice along the way. The transport transported on its board almost four thousand tons of various food and household goods. Not far from Cape Kharasavey, the team was able to unload all the supplies onto the fast ice without much difficulty, after which they were delivered to the shore. Both ships set back on their course to the ice-free port of Murmansk.
Experience has shown that Kuchiev is absolutely right in his highest estimates of the ship's driving performance, and therefore for 1977 immediatelyan even longer and much more difficult trip was planned. Now it was supposed to make several flights to Yamal at once. This time, the team included not only the first icebreaker in the Arctic, but also a ship of the same class Murmansk, as well as three transport cargo ships.
Miracles on turns
In early 1977, the caravan safely set sail from Murmansk, after which, four days later, it approached Kharasavey. A week later, the ships were on their way back. In the Barents Sea, one of the transporters was sent under its own power to Murmansk, where upon arrival it immediately got up to load. In the meantime, the company of icebreakers took another slave ship, and then again held it on its previous course. After only two days, the process was repeated again.
All participants of that campaign unanimously admitted that the Arktika icebreaker, the technical characteristics of which are presented in the article, worked real miracles, breaking through hummocks of monstrous thickness.
Followers
And now we give a complete list of all ships built under project 10520:
- Arctic.
- "Siberia".
- "Russia".
- "Soviet Union".
- Yamal.
- "50 Years of Victory".
It should be noted that the last icebreaker "Arktika" (the new ship "50 Years of Victory") was put into operation only in 2007, although it was launched back in 1993. The reason is banal - the leadership of the new countries had a constant shortage of money.
Since the 2000s, an excursion to the Arctic on an icebreaker has become availableto everyone who wants (there would be money). Thanks to this, the required amounts for the final completion were finally collected, and the long-term ship construction was commissioned into the fleet of the Russian Federation.
New time
By 1999, the “old man” had already worked for 25 years, guiding over three thousand ships through the Northern Route, in the holds of which more than one million tons of valuable cargo was transported. But the path of the veteran was not completed, a completely new record was waiting for him. From May to May, from 1999 to 2000, the ship spent 110 vessels in the Arctic Ocean. Of the 50 thousand nautical miles, exactly 32 thousand the ship passed without a single breakdown. Not bad for a 25-year-old "dinosaur" who has worked his entire life in unrealistically difficult conditions!
How was the Arktika icebreaker supposed to be used by that time? A museum or an attraction for we althy tourists, with which the sailors strongly disagreed! In fairness, it should be noted that the first ship of project 10520 in 2008 nevertheless became a museum, but its historical identity was completely preserved. On those vessels of the project that remain in service to this day, you can take an icebreaker tour to the Arctic. The impressions of the tourists who have been there are simply impossible to put into words. Delight indescribable!
Extend lifespan
The nuclear icebreaker has become a real research site. The sailors proved to scientists that the power plant of the ship can work for a long time beyond the time allotted for it. By the middle of 2000, the main operating time of all systems andship's mechanisms was already about 146,000 hours. Considering all this, scientists and designers decided that the operational life of the Arktika itself can be safely extended to 175 thousand hours, and the other ships of the project can be operated until they reach 150 thousand operating hours.
The flagship of this project allowed hundreds of thousands of experiments to be carried out, the most complex complexes of navigation and radar equipment of the USSR and the Russian Federation were tested on it, nuclear scientists collected indescribably valuable data on the operation of nuclear power plants in extremely harsh conditions. The importance of the nuclear icebreaker Arktika (photos are presented in the article) is difficult to overestimate.
