The first icebreaker was an ordinary steamboat with a small bowhead and broke the ice in the harbor of Philadelphia.

Today, the most modern icebreakers, equipped with sophisticated navigation equipment, can break ice in difficult conditions of permafrost. We will also go to the northern latitudes, and find out which is the largest icebreaker in the world.

Nuclear icebreaker "Arktika"

Let's start with the legendary vessel, which from 1982 to 1986 was called Leonid Brezhnev, and went down in history as the first icebreaker in the history of navigation to reach the North Pole.

The historic northern voyage of the "Arctic" took place in 1977, having covered 2,528 miles in 7 days, the icebreaker reached the geographic point of the North Pole.

In 2008, the "Arktika" was decommissioned, but icebreakers of this type are still surfing the north. Among them it is worth noting "Soviet Union", "Siberia", "Russia".

The lighter carrier with a nuclear installation on board was launched in 1986, and today it remains the world's largest vessel of this type in terms of displacement.

"Sevmorput" is able to overcome 1 meter thick ice, and despite its venerable age is still in service. During its glorious history, the vessel has already covered 302 thousand miles, while transporting cargo with a total weight of more than 1.5 million tons.

After a major overhaul, the nuclear icebreaker returned to the fleet, and is the only merchant ship with a nuclear installation.

Even before launching, the icebreaker had to go through a series of difficult tests. The ship was laid down in 1989, but due to lack of funds, construction was suspended, and only in 2007 the Russian flag was raised above the Pobeda deck.

This is a modified project of a new generation of Russian ships, capable of breaking the ice thickness of 2.8 meters.

In addition to its main task, escorting trade caravans, the icebreaker is also used as a cruise ship, organizing excursions to the North Pole.

Below you can watch a short video where you can watch the icebreaker in action.

Like the Arctic, the Siberia project also has two nuclear-powered ships. The first served for the benefit of the Fatherland from 1977 to 1992, the second is planned to be commissioned in 2021, but it was launched on September 22, 2017.

A two-draft ship with a deep draft is capable of splitting the ice of the oceans up to 2.9 meters thick, but with a low draft - ice in river beds and shallow bays.

The Siberia project has synthesized the qualitative characteristics of two Russian projects, and is being successfully tested in northern latitudes.

Among the most powerful ships of this class, one should also mention ships launched from foreign shipyards. These include the US Coast Guard research vessel "Healy".

In 2015, this 117-meter long exploration ship reached the North Pole alone for the first time in the history of American shipping.

There are two helipads on the decks, and 5 research laboratories are conveniently located in the holds.

Among the large vessels capable of breaking ice, the Canadian ship is one of the oldest, since it was launched back in 1969.

After several upgrades and overhauls, Louis S. St-Laurent is serving with the Canadian Coast Guard fleet.

Now with its help, research work in the Arctic is being actively carried out. It was with the help of equipment on board a ship off the coast of Greenland at the bottom of the ocean that scientists discovered a chain of 25 volcanoes.

German shipbuilders have created a unique vessel that can operate at temperatures as low as -50 ° C.

Scientific and research equipment is installed on board, and the "Polashtern" itself is capable of moving at a speed of 5 knots among ice 1.5 meters thick.

It was launched in 1982, and is now used to explore the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in activities to guide merchant ships.

The floating giant of the United States Coast Guard rightfully holds the leadership of the heaviest ship in the icebreaker fleet, and in terms of its power is not inferior to Russian counterparts.

But at the moment, the "Polar Sea" is at the berth, where a project is being carried out to modernize it. It is planned to equip the ship with a nuclear power plant, which will significantly increase the passability and power.

Its diesel and gas turbines produced 72 thousand horsepower. Such technical characteristics allowed the ship to participate in many missions to wire ships and explore the white expanses of the Arctic.

But this ship was named after the legendary Soviet icebreaker, and was launched in the summer of 2016.

The new "Arctic", with a hull length of 173.3 meters, is capable of operating not only in ocean conditions, but also entering river estuaries and operating in bays. A very efficient vessel for breaking ice on the rivers of Siberia.

"Arktika" is capable of breaking ice up to 3 meters thick, but so far the ship is undergoing test trials. Commissioning is planned for 2018, but at the moment it is the most powerful icebreaker in the world.

Finally

Diesel icebreakers and the most modern nuclear-powered ships have allowed mankind to make significant progress in the exploration of northern and southern latitudes. In addition, they perform an important function as a conduit for trade caravans in the most difficult navigation conditions of the North.

A few years ago, the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg experienced serious difficulties and was on the verge of stopping, and this summer the hull of the newest nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, the namesake of the renowned Soviet ship, was launched from the stocks of the enterprise. This newest ship with a two-reactor nuclear installation is designed with a two-draft design, that is, it will be able to pilot transport ships both in deep-water and shallow-water sections of the Northern Sea Route. However, in addition to atomic leviathans like "Arctic" and its upcoming sisterships "Siberia" and "Ural", in our high latitudes, less powerful ships of more modest size are in demand. These icebreakers also have their own tasks.

The icebreaker is cramped

The phrase "modest size" is the last thing that comes to mind in the workshop of the Vyborg shipyard, where the blocks of the future icebreaker are being assembled. Huge ocher-colored structures as high as a three-four-storey building go to the very ceiling of a semi-dark factory building. From time to time, a bluish welding flame flares up here and there. The new products of VSZ do not really fit into the old dimensions of the enterprise. “We had to redo the entire production logistics chain,” says Valeriy Shorin, an honored worker of the enterprise, senior specialist in business projects at VSY. - Previously, hulls of ships were assembled on a slipway, and then they entered the dock chamber, which was filled with water. The water sank, leaving the ship in a special channel through which an exit to the sea opened. This is no longer possible. The camera is capable of receiving vessels no wider than 18 m. "

The construction of a multifunctional icebreaking support vessel for pilotage of oil tankers in the Gulf of Ob is underway.

Now VSY is finishing the construction of a diesel-electric icebreaker Novorossiysk, belonging to the 21900 M series. Two sisterships - Vladivostok and Murmansk - have already been handed over to the customer, which is Rosmorport. These are, of course, not superpowers of the Arctic type (60 MW), but the power-to-weight ratio of the ships of the 21,900 M project is also impressive - 18 MW. The icebreaker is 119.4 m long and 27.5 m wide. The docking camera is still in place. Its gray concrete walls, in the seams of which small vegetation has settled, are now hospitably accepted for repairs by a factory tug and other not too large vessels. The icebreaker will no longer fit there. Instead of building a second, wider chamber, the factory found a different solution. In ten months, the Atlant barge was built, an impressive structure 135 meters long and 35 meters wide. The barge is a floating platform with white technological towers at the corners - they are marked on them. Now the finished blocks are delivered to the barge from the workshop on heavy-duty trailers (the largest of them is capable of transporting parts weighing up to 300 tons). The hull is being assembled on the Atlanta, and as soon as it is ready for launching, the barge is taken by tug to a deep place in the sea and its ballast chambers are filled with water. The site goes under the water, and the depth of its immersion is tracked just by the marks on the technological towers. The future ship is afloat. He is taken to the pier, after which work continues. The barge is freed up for a new ship.

The already launched icebreaker "Novorossiysk" is the last of three icebreakers of project 21900 M ordered by "Rosmorport".

A foray against the ice

What makes an icebreaker an icebreaker? In principle, any vessel can break ice, even a rowboat. The only question is how thick this ice is. In the Maritime Register there is a classification of ships that have special properties for breaking ice. The “weakest” category is Ice 1-3 (non-arctic vessels), followed by Arc 6-9 (arctic vessels). But only ships that fall under the Icebreaker category can rightfully be considered icebreakers. There are four classes in the category. The highest class - ninth - belongs to nuclear-powered icebreakers, which are capable of continuously crossing a field of even ice up to 2.5 m thick. And if the ice is thicker? This may well be in the constantly frozen Arctic seas, where the ice does not melt in spring, but builds up over the years. Hummocks also complicate the passage. In this case, it is necessary to refuse from breaking the ice in a continuous course. If the icebreaker does not have enough power to overcome the ice, the "raid" method is used. The ship moves back from the obstacle a few hulls, and then again rushes forward and "with a run" jumps onto the ice floe. There is also a method of breaking ice by the stern, where ballast water is pumped from other parts of the hull to increase the mass acting on the ice. The opposite option is also possible, when water is pumped into the bow of the vessel. Or into a tank on one of the sides. This is the job of the roll and trim systems to help the icebreaker break the ice and not get stuck in the made channel. The fourth method is available only to the unique, first in the world, asymmetric icebreaker Baltika, which, due to its non-standard hull shape, can move sideways, breaking the ice and forming a channel of such a width that is inaccessible to other icebreakers.

Two icebreakers - "Moscow" and "St. Petersburg", built at the Baltic shipyard (St. Petersburg) within the framework of the project 21900, belonged to the Icebreaker 6 class. The modernized icebreakers of the 21900 M project, the production of which was mastered by VSZ, were strengthened and modified to the Icebreaker class 7. When moving in a continuous motion, they are able to break ice with a thickness of 1.5-1.6 m, and when using the stern, they obey the thickness of 1.3 m. This means that the now being completed Novorossiysk will be able to work not only in the Baltic, where the thickness the ice almost never exceeds 90 cm, but also in the Arctic seas - however, mainly in the spring and summer.

It is from such huge blocks on the Atlant barge that icebreaker hulls are assembled at the Vyborg Shipyard, which is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. As soon as the hull is ready, it is lowered into the water, and the completion of the ship continues.

Pumping in clear water

Despite the fact that the icebreakers of the 21900 M project do not have the capabilities that the vessels of the Icebreaker 9 class have, structurally they have much in common, since the classic icebreaker design has long been invented and worked out. “The icebreaker hull is shaped like an egg. - says Boris Kondrashov, captain of the tugboat VSZ, deputy captain of the plant. - There are almost no protruding parts on it from below. This shape allows you to effectively push the ice broken by the reinforced stem, and take the pieces of ice down under the ice framing the channel. But this shape is associated with one feature of icebreakers: in clear water, the vessel experiences a powerful roll even from a small wave. At the same time, when passing ice fields, the hull of the vessel takes a stable position. " The ice field along which the icebreaker moves does not stand still. Under the influence of a current or wind, it can move and push against the side of the icebreaker. It is extremely difficult to resist the pressure of a huge mass, it is impossible to stop it. There are cases when ice literally crawled onto the deck of an icebreaker. But the shape of the hull and the reinforced ice belt passing in the waterline area do not allow the ice to crush the ship, although large dents up to half a meter deep on the sides often remain.

1. In the normal mode, the icebreaker breaks the ice, moving in a continuous motion. The vessel cuts the ice with a reinforced stem and pushes the ice floes apart with a special rounded bow. 2. If an icebreaker encounters ice, for which the vessel does not have enough power to break it in a continuous course, the raid method is used. The icebreaker moves back, then jumps on the ice floe and crushes it with its weight. 3. Another option for dealing with thick ice is moving astern.

The changes made to the modified version of the icebreaker 21900 affected, in particular, the ice belt. It is reinforced with an additional 5mm stainless steel layer. Other components have also been revised. Unlike classic ships with propellers, Project 21900 M icebreakers are equipped with two rudder propellers. These are not newfangled azipods, each of which houses an electric motor in the gondola, but their functional counterpart. The speakers can be rotated 180 degrees to either side, which provides the boat with the highest maneuverability. In addition to the propellers located aft, the bow of the ship has a propeller thruster in the annular fairing. What is especially interesting is that the screws not only serve as a propulsion device, but also have sufficient strength to take part in the fight against ice. When operating astern, the propellers crush the ice, and the thruster is also capable of milling ice. By the way, it also has one more function - to pump out water from under the ice, which the ship is going to storm. Having lost for a moment support in the form of a water column, the ice breaks more easily under the weight of the nose.

New products for the Ob Bay

And what happens if an icebreaker of the 21900 M type hits an iceberg like the one that destroyed the Titanic? “The vessel will be damaged, but will remain afloat,” says Valery Shorin. “However, these days such a situation is unlikely. Even the Titanic disaster became a manifestation of negligence - it was known about the presence of icebergs in the area of \u200b\u200bthe disaster, but the captain did not slow down. Now the ocean surface is constantly monitored from space, and this data is available in real time. In addition, there is a helipad in the bow of the 21900 M icebreakers. Taking off from it, the ship's helicopter can regularly conduct ice reconnaissance and determine the optimal route of movement. " But maybe it's time to replace the heavy and expensive helicopter with light drones? “We do not exclude the use of drones on board the icebreaker in the future,” explains Valery Shorin, “but we do not intend to abandon the helicopter yet. Indeed, in a critical situation, it can act as a lifesaving device. "

Multifunctionality is the slogan of our time. Icebreakers manufactured at VSY are capable not only of laying channels in the ice, ensuring the passage of transport ships, but also participating in emergency rescue operations, performing various types of work in offshore hydrocarbon production areas, laying pipes, and extinguishing fires. Such versatility is now especially in demand in areas of active economic development of the Arctic. While Novorossiysk, the last icebreaker of the 21900 M series, is being completed at the berth, the Atlant barge is assembling the hull of a multifunctional icebreaking support vessel for work in the Novoportovskoye oil field in the west of the Ob Bay. There will be two such ships, both are superior in power to the project 21,900 M (22 MW versus 16) and belong to the Icebreaker 8 class, that is, they will be able to break up ice up to 2 m thick with a continuous flow and lead oil tankers. Icebreaking ships are designed to operate at temperatures down to -50 ° C, that is, they will withstand the most severe arctic conditions. The ships will be able to perform many functions up to being placed on board a medical hospital.

In the same place, on the Gulf of Ob, a major international project for the production of liquefied natural gas - Yamal LNG is being implemented. The blue-fueled tankers will be intended primarily for European consumers. These ice-class tankers are being built at shipyards in Japan and South Korea, but Russian-made icebreaker ships will have to navigate them in the ice. The contract for the construction of two icebreakers for Yamal LNG has already been signed by the Vyborg Shipyard.

To complement the picture of modern Russian icebreaker construction, it is worth mentioning another new product expected soon - the world's most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker. The vessel "Viktor Chernomyrdin", which is being built at the Baltic Shipyard by order of "Rosmorport", will have a capacity of 25 MW and will be able, moving continuously backward or forward, to break ice up to two meters thick.

Russia has the only nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet in the world, whose task is to ensure navigation in the northern seas and the development of the Arctic shelf. Nuclear icebreakers can stay on the Northern Sea Route for a long time without needing to refuel.

At present, the operating fleet includes the nuclear-powered ships Rossiya, Sovetsky Soyuz, Yamal, 50 Let Pobedy, Taimyr and Vaigach, as well as the nuclear-powered lighter-carrier container ship Sevmorput. They are operated and maintained by Rosatomflot located in Murmansk.

A nuclear icebreaker is a nuclear powered naval vessel built specifically for use in ice-covered waters year-round. Nuclear icebreakers are much more powerful than diesel ones. In the USSR, they were developed to ensure navigation in the cold waters of the Arctic.

For the period 1959-1991. in the Soviet Union, 8 nuclear icebreakers and 1 nuclear lighter carrier - container ship were built.
In Russia, from 1991 to the present, two more nuclear-powered icebreakers have been built: Yamal (1993) and 50 Let Pobedy (2007).
Now construction is underway for three more nuclear-powered icebreakers with a displacement of more than 33 thousand tons, icebreaking capacity - almost three meters. The first one will be ready by 2017.

In total, more than 1100 people work on nuclear icebreakers and ships located at the base of the Atomflot nuclear fleet.

"Soviet Union" (nuclear-powered icebreaker of the "Arctic" class)

Icebreakers of the "Arktika" class are the backbone of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet: 6 out of 10 nuclear icebreakers belong to this class. The ships have a double hull, they can break ice, moving both forward and backward. These ships are designed to operate in cold Arctic waters, making it difficult to operate a nuclear facility in warm seas. This is partly why crossing the tropics to work off the coast of Antarctica is not one of their tasks.

The displacement of the icebreaker is 21,120 tons, the draft is 11.0 m, the maximum speed in clear water is 20.8 knots.

The design feature of the Sovetsky Soyuz icebreaker is that it can be retrofitted into a battle cruiser at any time. The ship was originally used for Arctic tourism. Making a transpolar cruise, from its board it was possible to install meteorological ice stations operating in automatic mode, as well as an American meteorological buoy.

Department of the GTG (main turbine generators)

A nuclear reactor heats water, which turns into steam, which spins up turbines that drive generators, which generate electricity that goes to electric motors that turn propellers.

CPU (Central Control Station)

Icebreaker control is concentrated in two main command posts: the wheelhouse and the central control station of the power plant (CPC). From the wheelhouse, general management of the icebreaker is carried out, and from the central control room - the operation of the power plant, mechanisms and systems and control over their work.

The reliability of nuclear-powered ships of the "Arktika" class has been tested and proven by time; over the more than 30-year history of nuclear-powered ships of this class, there has not been a single accident associated with a nuclear power plant.

The saloon for the command staff. The private dining room is located on the deck below. The diet consists of a full four meals a day.

"Sovetsky Soyuz" was put into operation in 1989, with an established service life of 25 years. In 2008 Baltiyskiy Zavod supplied the equipment for the icebreaker to extend the life of the vessel. Currently, the icebreaker is planned to be restored, but only after a specific customer has been identified or until transit along the Northern Sea Route is increased and new work areas appear.

Nuclear icebreaker "Arktika"

Launched in 1975 and was considered the largest of all those existing at that time: its width was 30 meters, length - 148 meters, and the side height was more than 17 meters. All conditions were created on the ship, allowing the flight crew and the helicopter to be based. "Arctic" was able to break through ice, the thickness of which was five meters, and also move at a speed of 18 knots. The unusual color of the ship (bright red), which personified the new maritime era, was also considered a clear difference.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika became famous for being the first ship to reach the North Pole. Currently decommissioned and a decision on its disposal is pending.

"Vaygach"

Shallow draft nuclear icebreaker of the Taimyr project. A distinctive feature of this icebreaker project is a reduced draft, which makes it possible to service ships following the Northern Sea Route, calling at the mouths of Siberian rivers.

Captain's bridge

Remote controls for three propeller motors, also on the console are control devices for the towing device, a control panel for a tug surveillance camera, log indicators, echo sounders, a gyrocompass repeater, VHF radio stations, a control panel for windshield wipers and other joystick for controlling a 6 kW xenon projector.

Machine telegraphs

The main application of the Vaigach is escorting ships with metal from Norilsk and ships with timber and ore from Igarka to Dikson.

The main power plant of the icebreaker consists of two turbine generators, which will provide the maximum continuous power on the shafts of about 50,000 hp. with., which will allow forcing ice up to two meters thick. With an ice thickness of 1.77 meters, the icebreaker's speed is 2 knots.

Room for the middle propeller shaft.

The direction of movement of the icebreaker is controlled by an electro-hydraulic steering gear.

Former cinema

Now on the icebreaker in each cabin there is a TV set with wiring for broadcasting the ship's video channel and satellite TV. And the cinema hall is used for general meetings and cultural events.

The office of the second first mate's block cabin. The duration of the stay of nuclear-powered ships at sea depends on the number of planned works, on average it is 2-3 months. The crew of the Vaigach icebreaker consists of 100 people.

Nuclear icebreaker "Taimyr"

The icebreaker is identical to the Vaygach. It was built in the late 1980s in Finland at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki by order of the Soviet Union. However, the equipment (power plant, etc.) on the ship was installed Soviet, used Soviet-made steel. The installation of nuclear equipment was carried out in Leningrad, where the icebreaker's hull was towed in 1988.

"Taimyr" in the dock of the shipyard

"Taimyr" breaks the ice in a classic way: a powerful hull pushes against an obstacle made of frozen water, destroying it with its own weight. A channel is formed behind the icebreaker, through which ordinary sea vessels can move.

To improve icebreaking capacity, the Taimyr is equipped with a pneumatic flushing system, which prevents the hull from sticking to broken ice and snow. If the channel lining is slowed down by thick ice, the trim and roll systems, which consist of tanks and pumps, enter into deo. Thanks to these systems, the icebreaker can roll on one side, then on the other, raise the bow or stern higher. From such movements of the hull, the ice field surrounding the icebreaker is crushed, allowing you to move on.

For painting external structures, decks and bulkheads, imported two-component acrylic-based enamels with increased resistance to weathering, abrasion and shock loads are used. The paint is applied in three layers: one layer of primer and two layers of enamel.

The speed of such an icebreaker is 18.5 knots (33.3 km / h)

Repair of the propeller-rudder complex

Installing the blade

Blade to propeller hub bolts, each of the four blades is secured by nine bolts.

Almost all ships of the Russian icebreaker fleet are equipped with propellers manufactured at the Zvezdochka plant.

Nuclear icebreaker "Lenin"

This icebreaker, launched on December 5, 1957, became the first ship in the world to be equipped with a nuclear power plant. Its most important differences are the high level of autonomy and power. During its first six years of operation, the nuclear icebreaker covered more than 82,000 nautical miles, navigating over 400 ships. Later "Lenin" will be the first of all ships to be north of Severnaya Zemlya.

The icebreaker "Lenin" worked for 31 years and in 1990 was taken out of service and put to an eternal stop in Murmansk. Now there is a museum on the icebreaker, work is underway to expand the exposition.

The compartment in which there were two nuclear plants. Two dosimetrists entered, measuring the level of radiation and monitoring the operation of the reactor.

There is an opinion that it was thanks to "Lenin" that the expression "peaceful atom" was fixed. The icebreaker was built in the midst of the Cold War, but had absolutely peaceful goals - the development of the Northern Sea Route and the escort of civilian ships.

Wheelhouse

Main staircase

One of the captains of the AL "Lenin", Pavel Akimovich Ponomarev, was previously the captain of the "Ermak" (1928-1932) - the world's first icebreaker of the Arctic class.

As a bonus, a couple of photos of Murmansk ...

Murmansk

The largest city in the world, located above the Arctic Circle. It is located on the rocky eastern coast of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea.

The backbone of the city's economy is the Murmansk seaport, one of the largest ice-free ports in Russia. The Murmansk port is the home port of the Sedov barque, the largest sailing ship in the world.

"Superstructures" - Icebreakers (documentary film)

Most ships have a narrow deck, V-shaped hull, an almost vertical bow and are propelled by the rotation of a propeller that is connected directly to the ship's engine.

It's not like that with icebreakers. These vessels are specially adapted to navigate seas filled with ice floes or enclosed in thick pack ice. Therefore, they are very heavy and are lined with steel on the outside, which allows them to break 35-foot thick ice without any dents or holes. Their wide housings and rounded bottoms also help avoid this kind of trouble.

Faced with the pack ice, the powerful icebreaker lifts its curved nose and pushes its whole weight onto the ice. This is usually enough to make a passage. To perform such a maneuver, the propeller must push the ship forward with all its might and at the same time not be damaged. Therefore, the propeller of icebreakers is reliably hidden under the hull of the ship and is driven not by the ship, but by an electric motor. This allows the propeller to spin at an extremely low speed.

Japanese icebreaker "Shirazi" 440 feet long

The 440-foot Japanese icebreaker Shirazi is powered by three diesel engines, paired with electric motors that power the propeller. The total power output of the icebreaker's engines is 90,000 horsepower.

Techniques for creating passages in icy seas

Icebreakers are required to open and navigate the Arctic seas: to oil developments, isolated scientific and military bases, to strategically important northern ports. Thin ice easily surrenders to these powerful ships, and they take it with a head-on ram. When it is necessary to break a floating ice floe or widen an open passage in the ice, the icebreaker, with the help of water flowing in the roll tanks from one side to the other, tilts to the side - as shown in the right figure. With such swaying, the ship's hull cuts and crushes the ice fields. Some icebreakers have side thrusters in the keel section to facilitate rocking.

Performing icebreaking work using roll

Having met pack ice, the icebreaker climbs up on it with its nose. At the same time, the fuel from the bow ballast tank is poured into the stern one (left figure below). When the entire bow of the ship is safely perched on the ice, the pumps begin to pump fuel back into the bow ballast tank. This extra weight is usually enough to force the ice to give way and move away (right figure).

Icebreaking work using a ballast tank

Very wide ship

When the commander is on the suspension bridge, he can gaze from above his ship, which was created in order to awaken the polar seas to life. Typical icebreaker wider than a regular ship of the same length. This adds stability and carrying capacity to it.

Cup-shaped profile the bottom makes it easy to climb into ice fields that would simply wipe out an ordinary ship.

Steep bevel the bow part is made so that the icebreaker, sliding, can easily climb onto the pack ice. And with the usual shape of the nose, the ship can only poke on such ice.

Marine icebreaking engine rotates an electric generator. The generator powers the engine, which turns the propeller. This allows for the best control of the boat's speed.

The Soviet Union was breaking the ice with nuclear icebreakers and had no equal. Nowhere in the world were there ships of this type - in the ice the USSR had absolute domination. 7 Soviet nuclear icebreakers.

"Siberia"

This ship became a direct continuation of the Arktika-type nuclear installations. At the time of commissioning (1977) "Siberia" had the largest width (29.9 m) and length (147.9 m). The ship operated a satellite communications system responsible for fax, telephone communications and navigation. Also present were a sauna, a swimming pool, a workout room, a relaxation salon, a library and a huge dining room.
The nuclear icebreaker "Siberia" went down in history as the first ship that carried out year-round navigation in the direction of Murmansk-Dudinka. It also became the second unit to reach the top of the planet, entering the North Pole.

"Lenin"

This icebreaker, launched on December 5, 1957, became the first ship in the world to be equipped with a nuclear power plant. Its most important differences are a high level of autonomy and power. Already in the course of its first use, the vessel demonstrated excellent performance, thanks to which it was possible to significantly increase the navigation period.
During the first six years of operation, the nuclear icebreaker covered more than 82,000 nautical miles, navigating over 400 ships. Later "Lenin" will be the first of all ships to be north of Severnaya Zemlya.

"Arctic"

This nuclear-powered icebreaker (launched in 1975) was considered the largest of all existing at that time: its width was 30 meters, length - 148 meters, and the side height - more than 17 meters. The unit was equipped with a medical unit with an operating theater and a dental unit. All conditions were created on the ship, allowing the flight crew and the helicopter to be based.
"Arctic" was able to break through ice, the thickness of which was five meters, and also move at a speed of 18 knots. The unusual color of the ship (bright red), which personified the new maritime era, was also considered a clear difference. And the icebreaker was famous for being the first ship that managed to reach the North Pole.

"Russia"

This unsinkable icebreaker, launched in 1985), became the first of a series of Arctic nuclear plants, the capacity of which reaches 55.1 MW (75 thousand horsepower). The crew has at their disposal: Internet, Priroda salon with an aquarium and live vegetation, a chess room, a cinema, and everything else that was present on the Siberia icebreaker.
The main purpose of the installation: cooling of nuclear reactors and use in the Arctic Ocean. Since the ship was forced to constantly be in cold water, it could not cross the tropics to find itself in the Southern Hemisphere.

For the first time, this vessel made a cruise to the North Pole, specially organized for foreign tourists. And in the 20th century, a nuclear icebreaker was used to study the continental shelf at the North Pole.

The design feature of the Sovetsky Soyuz icebreaker, commissioned in 1990, is that it can be retrofitted into a battle cruiser at any time. The ship was originally used for Arctic tourism. Making a transpolar cruise, it was possible to install meteorological ice stations operating in an automatic mode, as well as an American meteorological buoy. Later, an icebreaker stationed near Murmansk was used to supply power to facilities located near the coast. The vessel also found application in the study in the Arctic of the impact of global warming.

Yamal

The nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal was laid down in 1986 in the USSR, and was launched after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1993. Yamal "became the twelfth ship to reach the North Pole. In total, he has 46 flights in this direction, including the one that was specially initiated to meet the third millennium. Several emergencies occurred on the ship, including a fire, the death of a tourist, as well as a collision with the Indiga tanker. The icebreaker was not injured during the last emergency, but a deep crack formed in the tanker. It was Yamal that helped transport the damaged vessel for repairs.
Six years ago, the ice drift completed a rather important mission: it evacuated archaeologists from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, who reported their own disaster.

"50 years of Victory"

This icebreaker is considered the most modern and largest of all. In 1989 it was laid under the name "Ural", but since there was not enough funding, for a long time (until 2003) it was not completed. Only from 2007 the ship could be operated. During the first tests, the nuclear-powered icebreaker demonstrated reliability, maneuverability, and a top speed of 21.4 knots.
At the disposal of the ship's passengers: a music salon, a library, a swimming pool, a sauna, a gym, a restaurant, and satellite TV.
The main task assigned to the icebreaker is the escort of caravans in the Arctic seas. But the ship was also intended for Arctic cruises.