- Krasin (1916 icebreaker)
The first icebreaker "Krasin" (Russian: Красин) was built for the
Imperial Russian Navy as "Svyatogor". She had a long, distinguished career in rescue operations, as well as a pathfinder and explorer of theNorthern Sea Route . She has been fully restored to operating condition and is now a museum ship in Saint Petersburg.History and service
The icebreaker was built by
Armstrong Whitworth inNewcastle upon Tyne under the supervision ofYevgeny Zamyatin . The vessel was launched as theSvyatogor on3 August 1916 and completed in February 1917. Up to the beginning of the 1950s she remained the most powerful icebreaker in the world. [cite web| url=http://www.krasin.org/eng/history.html| title=The "Krasin" Icebreaker| publisher=krasin.org| accessdate=2008-07-20]During the allied intervention against the Bolsheviks in Northern Russia (1918-19) she was scuttled by the Royal Navy. They raised her for use in the
White Sea and later brought her toScapa Flow forminesweeping ."Svyatogor" was returned to the USSR under the
Krasin trade agreement in 1921. In 1927 this icebreaker was renamed by theSoviet government to honor the recently deceased politician and diplomatLeonid Borisovich Krasin .Perhaps the most famous duty the "Krasin" performed was rescuing the expedition of downed balloonist General
Umberto Nobile close to the North Pole, during his failed Italian Polar expedition in 1928. Later in the same year, "Krasin" rescued German passenger ship "Monte Servantes", with 1835 passengers on board, after it hit an iceberg and its hull was severely damaged.In 1933 "Krasin" became the first vessel to reach the inaccessible northern shores of
Novaya Zemlya in the history of navigation. In the 1938, the "Krasin" rescued Icebreaker Lenin and her convoy, trapped in ice at the end of the previous summer. [cite journal |last=Barr |first=William |authorlink=William Barr (Arctic historian) |year=1980 |month=March |title=The Drift of "Lenin"'s Convoy in the Laptev Sea, 1937-1938 |journal=Arctic |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=3–20 |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic33-1-3.pdf |accessdate=2008-07-26]During
World War II , "Krasin" participated in many Russianconvoy s. In 1941 the US Government entered into negotiations with the Russian Government for the purchase or lease of one or more of their modern ice breakers for use by theUS Coast Guard on the east coast ofGreenland . The "Krasin" was offered, crossed the Pacific and passed through the Panama Canal toBremerton, Washington . She was surveyed and found to be in need of repairs totalling about $500,000. Funds were allocated from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Emergency Fund for the President", but negotiations came to an abrupt end on 25 November 1941. Although the "Krasin" never served in the Coast Guard, the service gained valuable knowledge about icebreakers that was put to use in the design of theWind class icebreaker s.cite web| url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/WEBCUTTERS/Krassin_1917.html| title=Krassin (sic)| publisher=US Coastguard| accessdate=2008-07-26]She continued her journey to Great Britain, where she was armed with surface and anti-aircraft guns and proceeded to Reykjavik, Iceland to join convoy PQ-15. She escorted the convoy through the North and Barents Seas, around the Kola Peninsula and into Murmansk. [cite web| url=http://www.hnsa.org/ships/krasin.htm| title=Icebreaker "Krasin"| publisher=Historic Naval Ships Association| accessdate=2008-07-20] In 1942 the "Krasin" and "Lenin" were spotted at the
Mona Islands in theKara Sea by aKriegsmarine plane duringOperation Wunderland . Heavy cruiser "Admiral Scheer " rushed to find them, but providential bad weather, fog and ice conditions saved the icebreakers from destruction.Fact|date=July 2008Between August 1953 to June 1960, under the East German war reparations program, "Krasin" was extensively reconstructed at VEB Mathias-Thesen-Werft,
Wismar , Germany. Until 1971 she served the ArcticNorthern Sea Route . Then the icebreaker was used as an Arctic scientific vessel.cite web| url=http://www.krassin.ru/en/historical_notes| title=Historical notes about "Krassin"| accessdate=2008] As of 1998, she was owned by the International Fund for the History of Science, Murmansk and registered at St. Petersburg, where she is docked as a floating museum.Today
After the war, the historic icebreaker took an active part in research expeditions in the Polar Ocean and led Soviet cargo convoys through the polar region. Rather than being destroyed (like the Icebreaker "Yermak") to make way for more modern ships, the "Krasin" was preserved and restored. The vessel is now a museum ship in
Saint Petersburg , the only icebreaker maritime museum commemorating the Arctic convoys. [cite web| url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/icebreaker-krasin.asp| title=Icebreaker "Krasin"| publisher=saint-petersburg.com| accessdate=2008-07-20] She has been fully restored to operating condition and there are plans to sail her to various European ports.An island in the
Nordenskiöld Archipelago was named after this icebreaker. Postage stamps and a coin have been issued in her honor.References
External links
* [http://www.krassin.ru/en/ Description, history, and 3D tour of the historic "Krasin".]
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