- Vladimir Voronin (Captain)
Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin ( _ru. Владимир Иванович Воронин,October 17, 1890-October 18, 1952 [ru icon [http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=19688 "Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin"] on biografija.ru] )was a
Soviet Navy captain, born in Sumsky Posad, in the presentRepublic of Karelia ,Russia . In 1932 he commanded the expedition of the Soviet icebreaker "Alexander Sibiryakov" which made the first successful crossing of theNorthern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering. This voyage was organized by the All-Union Arctic Institute (presently known as theArctic and Antarctic Research Institute ).The "Sibiryakov" expedition
The "Sibiryakov" sailed from
Archangelsk , crossed theKara Sea and chose a northern, unexplored way aroundSevernaya Zemlya to theLaptev Sea . In September the propeller shaft broke and the icebreaker drifted for 11 days. However, the "Sibiryakov" used its sails and arrived in theBering Strait in October. Theicebreaker reached the Japanese port ofYokohama after 65 days, having covered more than 2500 miles in the Arctic seas. This was regarded as a heroic feat of Soviet polar seamen and Chief of ExpeditionOtto Schmidt and Captain Vladimir Voronin were received with many honors on their return to Russia.The icebreaker "Sibiryakov" continued in service until it was sunk in 1942 after an unequal fight with German cruiser "
Admiral Scheer " duringOperation Wunderland inWorld War II .The "Cheliuskin" expedition
In 1933-34 Voronin commanded another icebreaker on a dramatic, albeit not so fortunate, expedition. In July 1933 the "Cheliuskin" sailed from
Leningrad before a large crowd. However, in September icebreaker "Cheliuskin" got stuck inpack ice in theChukchi Sea nearKolyuchin Island . The crew worked hard to free the ship from the surrounding ice, succeeding after almost a week. But the ship became stuck again and drifted in the general direction of the pack ice toward theBering Strait . By the end of November it became obvious that the "Cheliuskin" would not break free from the pack ice and would have to winter on the Chukchi Sea. Eventually the ship was squeezed by large ice floes and was in danger of sinking. Captain Voronin ordered the crew to unload equipment from the ship and set up a camp site astern of the ship. But cracks in the ice formed under the tents, forcing the crew to load their equipment back onto the ship. The "Cheliuskin" drifted for the next two months in the Chukchi Sea to the east ofWrangel Island .Finally, increasing pressure resulted in the ship's creaking and eventual breach by ice. Voronin and
Otto Schmidt managed to jump off just in time before the "Cheliuskin" sank close to Kolyuchin Island. Thus only one crew member went down with the ship. The crew then set up tents on a part of the ice surface that was named Camp Schmidt. The crew made radio contact with the village ofUelen on theChukotka Peninsula and asked for help. During a dramatic rescue operation, pilot Anatolii Liapidevskii sighted Camp Schmidt, landed his plane on the ice, and rescued the women and children before returning to Uelen. The remaining passengers and crew of the ill-fated icebreaker "Cheliuskin" were rescued later and flown toCape Vankarem on the Chukotka Peninsula. Due to severe weather conditions, the rescue took one month with planes trying hard to carry out the rescue operation fromKhabarovsk ;Nome inAlaska ; andCape Oliutorskii until they were successful. [ [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=648160 Cambridge University Press: "Discovery of the wreck of the Soviet steamer Chelyuskin on the bed of the Chukchi Sea"] , 2007]Memory
Some geographic locations in Russia have been named in honor of this Soviet captain and explorer of the Arctic waters
*Voronina Island , a small island group in theKara Sea .
*Banka Voronina, a shoal in theGulf of Finland coord|60|23|N|28|08|E|type:shoal.
*Bukhta Voronina, a bay in the NW shores ofNovaya Zemlya coord|76|12|N|62|36|E|type:bay.
* The Voronin Trough, a geological feature in theArctic Ocean basin with a depth of 450m located 290km east ofFranz Josef Land .Cape Voronin off
Viachtu Bay inSakhalin Island, however, is not named after Captain Vladimir Voronin, but after Second lieutenant Alexey Ivanovich Voronin, a previous Russian explorer who took part in the 1849-1855Amur Expedition. [ [http://www.sakhalin.ru/Region/Seafarers/12e.htm Cape Voronin] ]References
* Armstrong, T., "The Russians in the Arctic", London, 1958.
* [http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre/history/history_soviet.html Early Soviet Exploration]
* [http://www.tour-land.ru/extr/north_p/eng/hist_ark.shtml History of Russian Arctic Exploration]
* [http://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/undersea_feature_names/documents/gazet_sept2007.pdf Voronin Trough]
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