Today the nuclear Russian icebreaker fleet is exactly 60 years old
Today, the nuclear Russian icebreaker fleet is exactly 60 years old. On December 3, 1959, the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin" was commissioned to the Ministry of the Navy of the USSR.
The project was developed in 1953 - 1955 at the Central Design Bureau. The chief designer was appointed shipbuilder Vasily Neganov. The nuclear installation was designed under the leadership of Igor Afrikantov.
The construction of the ship was assigned to the Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad. Ship turbines were created at the Kirov Plant, the main turbogenerators for the icebreaker were built by the Kharkov Electromechanical Plant, and the propeller motors were built by the Leningrad Electrosila Plant.
The surface vessel was 134 meters long, 27.6 meters wide, 16.1 meters high, and a displacement of over 16,000 tons. The crew was more than 200 people.
In the past ten years, the polar regions of the country have completely unexpectedly become territories of priority development. The Arctic is a “subject of special concern” for the country's leadership not only because of the discovered new oil and gas fields. The Northern Sea Route is today a strategic project that will allow Russia to finally become a truly maritime power.
Year-round operating sea lanes along the Russian northern coast will become a real alternative to the existing main sea lanes. If earlier world trade was controlled by the one who controlled the Suez and Panama canals and the main sea trade routes in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, now Russia will fully control another alternative sea transport highway, the potential of which is estimated today at 80 million tons per year.
And this transport aspect adds much more weight to the global status of Russia than even the military budget. Although the defense potential in the development of the Arctic, of course, is also clearly present.
The Russian Ministry of Defense built several “polar” military bases and significantly increased its military potential in the region, which causes obvious irritation of our “respected partners”.
The protection and control of maritime communications go hand in hand with the construction of three new heavy-duty icebreakers of the 22220 series at St. Petersburg shipyards. After their commissioning, the Northern Sea Route will provide seven nuclear icebreakers.