Russia is a country that has huge territoriesin the Arctic. However, their development is impossible without a powerful fleet, which allows shipping in extreme conditions. For these purposes, several icebreakers were built in the times of the Russian Empire. With the development of technology they were equipped with more and more modern engines. Finally, in 1959, the nuclear icebreaker Lenin was built. At the time of its creation, it was the only civilian vessel with a nuclear reactor in the world, which could also be sailed without refueling for 12 months. Its appearance on the expanses of the Arctic allowed to significantly increase the duration of navigation along the Northern Sea Route.
The world's first icebreaker was built in 1837 inAmerican city of Philadelphia and was intended to destroy the ice cover in the local harbor. Twenty-seven years later, the Pilot ship was created in the Russian Empire, which was also used to conduct ships through ice in the conditions of the port water area. The place of its operation was the St. Petersburg Sea Harbor. Somewhat later, in 1896, England created the first river icebreaker. It was ordered by the Ryazan-Ural railway company and was used on the Saratov ferry. Around the same time, there was a need to transport goods to hard-to-reach areas of the Russian North, so at the end of the 19th century, Armstrong Whitworth built the world's first Arctic operating ship, known as Ermak. It was acquired by our country and was part of the Baltic fleet until 1964. Another famous ship - the icebreaker "Krasin" (until 1927 was named "Svyatogor") took part in the Northern convoys during the Great Patriotic War. In addition, during the period from 1921 to 1941, the Baltic Plant built eight more vessels destined for operation in the Arctic.
The nuclear ship "Lenin", which was sent todeserved rest in 1985, today it is turned into a museum. Its length is 134 m, width - 27.6 m, and height - 16.1 m with a displacement of 16 thousand tons. Two nuclear reactors and four turbines with a total capacity of 32.4 MW were installed on the ship, so it was able to move at a speed of 18 knots. In addition, the first nuclear icebreaker was equipped with two autonomous power plants. Also on board were created all the conditions for comfortable living of the crew during months of arctic expeditions.
Work on a civil vessel equipped with a nuclearengine, was recognized as a particularly responsible matter. After all, the Soviet Union, among other things, was in dire need of another example, which confirms the assertion that the "socialist atom" is peaceful and creative. At the same time, no one doubted that the future chief designer of an atomic icebreaker should have extensive experience in building ships that can work in the Arctic. In view of these circumstances, it was decided to appoint VI Neganov to this responsible post. This well-known designer even before the war received the Stalin Prize for designing the first Soviet Arctic linear icebreaker. In 1954, he was appointed to the post of chief designer of the nuclear-powered ship "Lenin" and began work with II Afrikantov, who was assigned to create an atomic engine for this ship. It must be said that both design scientists brilliantly coped with the tasks assigned to them, for which they were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
The decision to start work on the creation of the firstSoviet nuclear-powered ship for work in the Arctic was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR in November 1953. In view of the extraordinary nature of the tasks, it was decided to build a model of the engine room of the future ship to the present level, so that it could work out the layout solutions of the designers. Thus, there was no need for any alterations or shortcomings during construction work directly on the ship. In addition, the designers who designed the first Soviet atomic icebreaker were tasked to exclude any possibility of damaging the ship's hull with ice, so special super-tough steel was created at the famous Prometheus Institute.
Directly to the work on the creation of the shipbegan in 1956 at the Leningrad Shipyard named after. Andre Marti (in 1957 it was renamed the Admiralty Plant). At the same time, some of its important systems and components were designed and assembled in other enterprises. For example, turbines were produced by the Kirov plant, propulsion motors by the Leningrad plant Elektrosila, and the main turbogenerators were the result of the work of workers of the Kharkov Electromechanical Plant. Although the ship was launched on water in the beginning of the winter of 1957, the nuclear installation was installed only in 1959, after which the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" was sent for passage of sea trials.
Since the ship was unique at that time, itwas the pride of the country. Therefore, during construction and subsequent testing, it was repeatedly shown to high-ranking foreign guests, such as members of the PRC government, as well as to politicians who at that time held the posts of the British prime minister and vice-president of the United States.
During the debut navigation, the first SovietThe nuclear-powered icebreaker excellently proved itself, showing excellent performance, and most importantly, the presence of such a vessel in the Soviet fleet allowed to extend the navigation period by several weeks.
Seven years after the start of operation, it wasIt was decided to replace the obsolete three-reactor atomic installation with a two-reactor one. After the modernization, the vessel returned to work, and in the summer of 1971 it was this nuclear-powered vessel that became the first surface ship that could pass the Northern Earth from the pole. By the way, the trophy of this expedition was a white bear cub presented by the team to the Leningrad Zoo.
As already mentioned, in 1989, operation"Lenin" was completed. However, the first-born of the Soviet nuclear icebreaking fleet was not threatened by oblivion. The fact is that he was put on an eternal parking lot in Murmansk, having organized a museum on board, where you can see interesting exhibits telling about the creation of the USSR icebreaker fleet.
For 32 years, while the first nuclear icebreakerThe USSR was in the ranks, there were two accidents on it. The first of them happened in 1965. As a result, the active zone of the reactor was partially damaged. To eliminate the consequences of the accident, part of the fuel was placed on the floating technical base, and the rest was unloaded and placed in a container.
As for the second case, in 1967the technical staff of the vessel was reported to leak in the pipeline of the third circuit of the reactor. As a result, the entire nuclear compartment of the icebreaker had to be replaced, and the damaged equipment was towed and flooded in the Gulf of Tsivolki.
Over time, to explore the vast expanses of the Arcticthe only atomic icebreaker was not enough. Therefore in 1971 the construction of the second similar vessel was started. They were the "Arctic" - an atomic icebreaker, which after the death of Leonid Brezhnev began to bear his name. However, during the years of Perestroika, the vessel was again given the first name, and it served under it until 2008.
"Arctic" - nuclear icebreaker, which was the firsta surface ship that managed to reach the North Pole. In addition, his project was originally designed to quickly convert the ship into an auxiliary combat cruiser capable of operating under polar conditions. This became possible in large part due to the fact that the designer of the nuclear icebreaker "Arktika" together with the team of engineers working on this project provided the ship with increased capacity, which allows it to overcome ice thickness up to 2.5 m. As for the dimensions of the vessel, they make up length of 147.9 m and a width of 29.9 m at a displacement of 23 460 tons. At the same time, while the vessel was in operation, the longest duration of its autonomous voyages was 7.5 months.
Between 1977 and 2007, theLeningrad (later St. Petersburg) Baltic Plant were built five more nuclear ships. All these vessels were designed by the type of "Arctic", and to date, two of them - "Yamal" and "50 Years of Victory" continue to pave the way for other ships in the endless ice at the North Pole of the Earth. By the way, the nuclear-powered vessel named "50 Years of Victory" was launched in 2007 and is the last of the largest icebreakers in the world produced in Russia and the world's largest icebreaker. As for the other three ships, one of them, the "Soviet Union", is currently undergoing restoration work. It is planned to return it to the system in 2017. Thus, the "Arctic" is an atomic icebreaker, the creation of which marked the beginning of an era in the history of the Russian fleet and, moreover, the design solutions used in its design are still valid today, 43 years after its creation.
In addition to nuclear powered ships for work in the Arctic, the SovietThe Union, and then Russia, needed vessels with less draft, which were intended for wiring ships to the mouths of Siberian rivers. Atomic icebreakers of the USSR (later Russia) of this type - Taimyr and Vaigach - were built at one of the shipyards in Helsinki (Finland). However, most of the equipment placed on them, including power plants, is produced domestically. Since these nuclear ships were intended for operation mainly on rivers, their sediment is 8.1 m at a displacement of 20 791 tons. At present, the nuclear icebreakers of Russia "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" continue to operate on the Northern Sea Route. However, soon they will need a change.
60 MW nuclear powered vesselsinstallation, began to be developed in our country since the beginning of the 2000s, taking into account the results obtained in the operation of ships of the type "Taimyr" and "Arctic". The designers have made it possible to change the draft of the new vessels, which will allow them to work effectively both in shallow water and in deep water. In addition, new icebreakers are able to move even in ice with a thickness of 2.6 to 2.9 m. In total, it is planned to build three such vessels. In 2012, the first atomic-powered ship of this series, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018, was laid down at the Baltiysky Plant.
As is known, the development of the Arctic is included in the numberpriority tasks facing our country. Therefore, at the moment, the development of design documentation for the creation of new icebreakers class LK-110YA is being conducted. It is assumed that these super-powered vessels will receive all the energy from the atomic steam-generating plant with a capacity of 110 MW. At the same time three four-bladed propellers with a fixed pitch will serve as the engine of the vessel. The main advantage that the new nuclear icebreakers of Russia will have is their increased ice breakability, which is supposed to be at least 3.5 m, whereas the vessels operating today do not exceed 2.9 m. Thus, the designers promise Ensure year-round navigation in the Arctic along the Northern Sea Route.
As you know, the Arctic is divided into five sectors,owned by Russia, USA, Norway, Canada and Denmark. The same countries, as well as Finland and Sweden, have the largest icebreaking fleets. And this is not surprising, since without such ships it is impossible to carry out economic and research tasks among the polar ice, even despite the effects of global warming, which are becoming more tangible every year. At the same time, all the currently existing nuclear icebreakers of the world belong to our country, and it is one of the leaders in the exploration of the Arctic.
