June 16, 2016 Baltiysky Zavod-Shipbuilding launched the lead nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika of project 22220. In the presence of several thousand spectators, the godmother of the icebreaker, Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, broke a traditional bottle of champagne on the side of the icebreaker,

sending from the slipway the largest and most powerful nuclear icebreaker in the world, the press service of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) reports.

« Today is a solemn day for the Russian nuclear industry. The world's largest and most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika has left the slipway of the Baltic Shipyard. Harsh region - harsh technology. I am sure that the Arktika icebreaker will give a new impetus to the development of the Arctic latitudes. I am very glad that young shipbuilders come to the industry and continue everything that has been accumulated by other generations of shipbuilders. Thanks to the shipbuilders of this creation. You look at it, and such pride overflows for the country and the people who are building it. Thank you for saving the St. Petersburg shipbuilding school. Our country is proud of the result of such work! Seven feet under the keel to you, the great "Arctic", - wished Valentina Matvienko.

The Kirov Shipyard shipped a turbine for the Arktika icebreaker to the Baltic Shipyard >>

The day of the launch of the nuclear-powered icebreaker in a significant way coincided with the day of the start of the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

Director General of Rosatom - the customer of nuclear icebreakers of project 22220 - Sergey Kiriyenko, in his welcoming speech, noted: " Today's event is a huge victory in every sense! A lot of work has been done, and today there are no analogues to such an icebreaker as the Arktika in the world. Thanks to the staff of the Baltic Shipyard, everything was done according to the schedule, and by the end of 2017 the Arktika will be put into operation. This icebreaker is the most modern in terms of its characteristics; it has all the technical capabilities that have never been used on other ships before. The icebreaker "Arktika" is a truly new opportunity for our country!»

After the command of Vadim Golovanov, the chief builder of the lead nuclear-powered ship, to proceed with the launching, the delay was cut, holding back more than 14,000 tons of the weight of the ship's hull, the Arktika smoothly descended into the waters of the Neva River.

ahead of the shipbuilders« Baltiysky Zavod-Shipbuilding» completion of the lead nuclear-powered icebreaker on the water, the contract deadline for the delivery of the order is December 2017*.

* The construction of the lead nuclear icebreaker LK-60YA "Arktika" required the intervention of Vladimir Putin - only he could decide to move the project from 2017 to 2019. Serial "Siberia" and "Ural" will be handed over in 2021 and 2022. The failure to meet deadlines, one of the key reasons for which was the conflict between Russia and Russia, could turn into a scandal: the president has already instructed to make "personnel, organizational and managerial decisions", the Accounts Chamber, the Prosecutor General's Office and the FSB will begin inspections. Both the customer Rosatom and contractors, in particular USC, can answer. But high-profile layoffs should not be expected, because the project was launched even when Rosatom was headed by the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.

In May 2017, Vladimir Putin instructed to postpone the delivery of the lead nuclear icebreaker LK-60Ya Arktika from 2017 to 2019. In addition, the president demanded that personnel, organizational and managerial decisions be made in connection with the failure of the state contract. At the same time, the Accounts Chamber, the Prosecutor General's Office and the FSB should check the project.

The second largest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world left the slipway of the Baltic Shipyard >>

FSUE Atomflot (owns nuclear icebreakers, controlled by Rosatom) and Baltic Shipbuilding Plant (BZS, part of USC) agreed on the construction of the Arktika in 2012, the money for the icebreaker - 37 billion rubles - was allocated by the budget. In 2014, a contract was signed for 2 more icebreakers of the series - Sibir and Ural - for 84.4 billion rubles. Arktika was supposed to be commissioned at the end of 2017, Siberia at the end of 2019, Ural at the end of 2020.

Turbines have become a key problem for the Arktika. They were supposed to be supplied by the Ukrainian Kharkov Turbine Plant, but after 2014 the supplier had to be replaced by KEM (inaccuracy - in fact, KhTZ was not supposed to supply turbines; when in 2013 KEM won the tender for the production of turbine units, it was planned to be manufactured at the Kirov Plant turbines can only be tested at KhTZ, where there is a special stand for this -). A source in the government says that there are no serious technical difficulties: the first turbine is being tested at the KEM stand, the second should be tested by October. USC complained about personnel problems, a large time gap in the implementation of such projects, loss of competencies, alteration of the technical project and documentation.

In general, the icebreaker's contractors are shifting the blame for the missed deadlines on each other. So, USC believes that manufacturers of steam turbine units (SEM) and electric propulsion systems (FGUP "Krylov State Scientific Center" - Krylov State Research Center) have become weak links in cooperation. The Kirov Plant reported that during the execution of the contract for the Arktika, checks are being carried out that “do not reveal any violations of the law on the part of the plant.” The company added that the Krylov State Research Center delayed the delivery of generators for more than two years. Mikhail Zagorodnikov, Executive Director of the Krylovsky State Research Center, believes that USC is to blame for the delay: the competition was held for five months, while, although the technical project was ready in 2009, detailed design began only in 2013.

BZS also overdue the deadlines for the delivery of both the LK-25 diesel icebreaker Viktor Chernomyrdin and the Akademik Lomonosov FNPP.

Now the Taimyr and Vaigach nuclear icebreakers are in operation, the resource of their nuclear installations is being extended, which cannot happen indefinitely, when the Yamal icebreaker leaves, only the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker will remain from the Arktika class. If by 2022 there will be only four icebreakers, this is not enough, since a sharp increase in cargo traffic from oil and gas fields, from Vostokugol and Norilsk Nickel is predicted, and there are attempts to increase transit along the Northern Sea Route. By 2022, at least two new two-draft icebreakers should be built.

Help 24RosInfo:

The lead nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 is being built to the class of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping on« Baltiysky Zavod-Shipbuilding» commissioned by the State Corporation Rosatom (the laying of the vessel took place on November 5, 2013) and will become the largest and most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world.

The main characteristics of the nuclear icebreaker project 22220:

power ..... 60 MW (on shafts);

speed ..... 22 knots (in clear water);

length ..... 173.3 m (160 m on DWL);

width ..... 34 m (33 m on DWL);

height ..... 15.2 m;

draft ..... 10.5 m / 8.65 m;

maximum icebreaking capacity.....2.8 m;

total displacement ..... 33 540 tons;

designated service life.....40 years.

During my trip to Murmansk, like everyone else, I visited the nuclear icebreaker Lenin. Therefore, I will describe this vehicle in my multi-photo manner :-)))

Icebreaker Lenin is a three-screw vessel. By architectural type, it is a smooth-deck vessel with moderate sheer, four continuous decks, an elongated superstructure and two masts. In the aft part of the boat deck there is a runway and a hangar for a helicopter. The chimney is missing.

unusual big sizes mainmasts are due to its use for ventilation of the steam generator plant.

The use of atomic energy determined the features of the internal arrangement of the power, residential and service premises of the ship. The hull of the icebreaker is divided by the main transverse watertight bulkheads into twelve compartments.

Two longitudinal bulkheads running from the second bottom to the upper deck form compartments along the sides, in which mainly ballast, fuel and other tanks are located, above the lower deck - various storerooms, service rooms and crew cabins.

The hull of the icebreaker Lenin is significantly different in design from other Russian-built icebreakers. The bottom, sides, inner decks, platforms and the upper deck at the extremities are built according to the transverse system, and the upper deck in the middle part - along the longitudinal system.

Spacing size 800 mm. Intermediate frames are installed along the entire length of the vessel from the second bottom to the living deck. A set of bow and stern ends is fan-shaped; the frames in these areas are located normally to the skin.

The outer skin in the area of ​​the ice belt and the adjacent belts above and below it are made of high-strength steel. The thickness of the ice belt is 36 mm in the middle part, 52 mm in the bow and 44 mm in the aft end.

The stem and stern of the icebreaker are cast-welded. The total weight of the stem is 30 tons, and the stern stem is 86 tons. The icebreaker's rudder is welded and has a sheathing made of sheet steel 40 mm thick. The area of ​​the rudder blade is 18.5 m2. Stock forged from alloy steel with a diameter of 550 mm.

The icebreaker crew is accommodated in single and double cabins. Water heating with air conditioning was used for residential, cultural and community and medical premises on the icebreaker.

Steam heating in the engine room and auxiliary rooms. A powerful automatic refrigeration unit and a large number of provisional storerooms.

The cargo means on the icebreaker are: in the bow - two cargo booms with electric winches with a lifting capacity of 1.5 tf,

in the middle part - a crane with a lifting capacity of 12 tf for servicing the compartment of a nuclear installation;

in the stern - two cranes with a lifting capacity of 3 tf.

The icebreaker is equipped with three dead anchors (one of them is spare) with swivel legs weighing 6 tons each, a stop anchor weighing 2 tons and four ice anchors (two 150 kg each and two 100 kg each). The anchor anchors are retracted into the hawse flush with the skin. cast anchor chains caliber 67 mm have a length of 325 m.

In the stern there is a cutout for towing ships close, which is equipped with fenders and rubber-lined fenders. An automatic double-drum towing winch with a pulling force of 40 tf on the main drum and 25 tf on the auxiliary one is installed at the aft end.

The electro-hydraulic steering machine shifts the rudder from side to side in 30 seconds at a vessel speed of 18 knots and one of the two installed pumps is operating. The unsinkability of the icebreaker is ensured by the simultaneous flooding of the two main watertight compartments.

The icebreaker has two lifeboats for 58 people each, two motor lifeboats for 40 people each, two six-oared yawls, a crew boat and a tugboat. Descent and ascent lifeboats and boats is carried out using rolling-type davits.

The power plant of the icebreaker operates according to the following scheme. The heat released in the reactor is used to produce superheated steam in steam generators. The steam is directed to the main turbine generators, from which electricity is supplied to the propulsion motors.

The armatures of the propulsion motors are connected to the propeller shafts. The steam generators are powered by feed pumps operating in parallel, so that in the event of an emergency shutdown of one of the pumps, the others automatically increase the capacity to the required level. They control the entire power plant of the icebreaker from one post.

The biological protection of the nuclear plant guarantees the protection of the icebreaker crew from the effects of radioactive radiation, which are controlled by a special dosimetric system. The control panel of this system is located in the radiation control post.

The main turbine generators are located in two compartments: bow and stern. Each compartment has two active-reactive turbines with a capacity of 11,000 hp each. Each turbine is connected through a gearbox to two double-armor DC generators with a continuous power of 11,500 hp. at a rated voltage of 600 V.

Turbine-generator units feed three propeller two-anchor DC electric motors: the middle one and two onboard ones. The middle engine receives 50% of the power generated by the turbogenerators, while the onboard engines receive 25% each. The power of the medium electric motor is 19,600 hp, and the onboard motors are 9,800 hp each. The propeller shafts of the icebreaker are made of alloyed steel. Middle shaft diameter 740 mm, length 9.2 m, weight 26.8 t; side shaft diameter 712 mm, length 18.4 m, weight 45 tons.

Propellers are four-bladed, with removable blades. The weight of the middle propeller is 27.8 tons, the side propeller is 22.5 tons.

The icebreaker has bow and stern power plants. Three turbogenerators are installed in the bow, two turbogenerators and one backup diesel generator with a capacity of 1000 kW each are installed in the stern. Each turbogenerator consists of an active condensing steam turbine and an alternating current generator. In addition, the ship has two emergency diesel generators.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker project was developed at TsKB-15 (now Iceberg) in 1953-1955 (project No. 92) after the decision to build a nuclear icebreaker was made on November 20, 1953 by the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The chief designer was V. I. Neganov. The nuclear plant was designed under the guidance of I. I. Afrikantov. Hull steel grades AK-27 and AK-28 (almost "stainless steel") was specially developed at the Prometheus Institute for icebreakers.

The ship was laid down in 1956 shipyard them. A. Marty in Leningrad. Chief builder - V. I. Chervyakov.

Launched on December 5, 1957. On September 12, 1959, already from the shipyard of the Admiralty Plant, he went to sea trials under the command of P. A. Ponomarev

On December 3, 1959, it was handed over to the Ministry of the Navy. Since 1960, part of the Murmansk Shipping Company.

It had good ice penetration. In the first 6 years of operation alone, the icebreaker traveled over 82,000 nautical miles and independently navigated more than 400 vessels.

The icebreaker "Lenin" worked for 30 years and in 1989 was decommissioned and put into eternal parking in Murmansk.

Now let's move inside. The entrance is free, and at the entrance a group of students of a local sailor has already developed.

The nuclear-powered ship stands at the pontoon berth of the Murmansk seaport.

Moored nearby "Klavdiya Elanskaya"

It provides local transportation.

The atomic icebreaker "Rossiya" is visible in the distance, if I'm not mistaken.

On the other side, such yachts are moored.

Monuments on the opposite bank of the bay.

Time 12 o'clock: forward...

We pass from the ladder to the board.

In the following parts, we will see what is inside it and take a closer look at the wheelhouse.

The Yamal nuclear-powered icebreaker is one of ten Arktika-class icebreakers, whose construction began in 1986, back in Soviet times. The construction of the icebreaker "Yamal" was completed in 1992, but already at that time the need for its use to ensure navigation along the Northern Sea Route disappeared. Therefore, the owners of this vessel, weighing 23,455 tons and 150 meters long, converted it into a ship with 50 tourist cabins and capable of delivering tourists to the North Pole.

The "heart" of the icebreaker "Yamal" are two sealed water-cooled reactors OK-900A, which contain 245 fuel rods with enriched uranium. The full load of nuclear fuel is about 500 kilograms, this reserve is enough for the continuous operation of the icebreaker for 5 years. Each nuclear reactor weighs about 160 tons and is located in a sealed compartment, shielded from the rest of the ship's structure by layers of steel, water and high-density concrete. Around the reactor compartment and throughout the ship, there are 86 sensors that measure radiation levels.

The reactors' steam power boilers generate high-pressure superheated steam that drives turbines that drive 12 electric generators. Energy from the generators is supplied to electric motors that rotate the blades of the icebreaker's three propellers. The engine power of each propeller is 25 thousand horsepower or 55.3 MW. Using this power, the Yamal icebreaker can move through ice 2.3 meters thick at a speed of 3 knots. Despite the fact that the maximum thickness of ice through which an icebreaker can pass is 5 meters, cases of overcoming ice hummocks with a thickness of 9 meters have been recorded.

The hull of the Yamal icebreaker is a double hull coated with a special polymer material that reduces friction. The thickness of the upper layer of the hull in the place of ice cutting is 48 millimeters, and in other places - 30 millimeters. The water ballast system, located between the two layers of the icebreaker's hull, allows you to concentrate additional weight in the front of the vessel, which acts as an additional ram. If the power of the icebreaker is not enough to cut through the ice, then an air bubble system is connected, which ejects 24 cubic meters of air per second under the ice surface and breaks it from below.

The design of the reactor cooling system of the Yamal nuclear icebreaker is designed to use outboard water with a maximum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. Therefore, this icebreaker and others like it will never be able to leave the northern seas and go to more southern latitudes.

Nuclear-powered icebreakers can stay on the Northern Sea Route for a long time without needing refueling. 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-container carrier Sevmorput. They are operated and maintained by Rosatomflot, located in Murmansk.

1. Nuclear-powered icebreaker - a seagoing vessel with a nuclear power plant, built specifically for use in waters covered with ice all 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.

2. For the period 1959–1991 in the Soviet Union, 8 nuclear-powered icebreakers and 1 nuclear-powered 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 Years of Victory (2007). Three more nuclear-powered icebreakers with a displacement of more than 33,000 tons are under construction, and the icebreaking capacity is almost three meters. The first one will be ready by 2017.

3. In total, more than 1,100 people work on Russian nuclear icebreakers, as well as ships based on the Atomflot nuclear fleet.

Sovetsky Soyuz (nuclear icebreaker of the Arktika class)

4. Icebreakers of the Arktika class are the basis of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet: 6 out of 10 nuclear icebreakers belong to this class. Vessels have double hulls, can break ice, moving both forward and backward. These ships are designed to operate in cold Arctic waters, which makes 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 among 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.

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

6. Department of GTG (main turbogenerators). A nuclear reactor heats water, which turns into steam, which spins turbines, which energize generators, which generate electricity, which goes to electric motors that turn propellers.

7. CPU (Central control post).

8. Icebreaker control is concentrated in two main command posts: the wheelhouse and the central power plant control post (CPU). From the wheelhouse, the general management of the operation 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.

9. The reliability of nuclear powered ships of the Arktika class has been tested and proven by time - for more than 30 years of nuclear powered ships of this class there has not been a single accident associated with a nuclear power plant.

10. Cabin for feeding officers. The dining room for the ratings is located on the deck below. The diet consists of a full four meals a day.

11. "Soviet Union" was put into operation in 1989, with an established service life of 25 years. In 2008, the Baltic Shipyard supplied equipment for the icebreaker, which makes it possible to extend the life of the vessel. Currently, the icebreaker is planned to be restored, but only after a specific customer is identified or until transit along the Northern Sea Route is increased and new areas of work appear.

Nuclear icebreaker "Arktika"

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

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

"Vaigach"

14. Shallow-draft nuclear icebreaker of the Taimyr project. A distinctive feature of this icebreaker project is its reduced draft, which makes it possible to serve ships following the Northern Sea Route with calls at the mouths of Siberian rivers.

15. Captain's bridge. Remote control panels for three propulsion electric motors, also on the remote control there are control devices for the towing device, a control panel for the tug surveillance camera, log indicators, echo sounders, a gyrocompass repeater, VHF radio stations, a control panel for wiper blades and other joystick controls for a xenon searchlight 6 kW.

16. Machine telegraphs.

17. The main use of Vaigach is to escort ships with metal from Norilsk and ships with timber and ore from Igarka to Dixon.

18. The main power plant of the icebreaker consists of two turbogenerators, which will provide a maximum continuous power of about 50,000 liters on the shafts. with., which will force the ice up to two meters thick. With an ice thickness of 1.77 meters, the speed of the icebreaker is 2 knots.

19. The room of the middle propeller shaft.

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

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

22. Study of the block cabin of the second chief mate. 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 icebreaker "Vaigach" consists of 100 people.

Nuclear icebreaker "Taimyr"

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

25. "Taimyr" in the dock of the shipyard.

26. "Taimyr" breaks the ice in a classic way: a powerful hull leans on an obstacle from frozen water, destroying it with its own weight. Behind the icebreaker, a channel is formed through which ordinary sea vessels can move.

27. To improve the ice-breaking ability, the Taimyr is equipped with a pneumatic washing system that prevents the hull from sticking broken ice and snow. If the laying of the channel is hampered by thick ice, the trim and roll systems, which consist of tanks and pumps, come into play. Thanks to these systems, the icebreaker can roll on one side, then on the other, raise the bow or stern higher. From such hull movements, the ice field surrounding the icebreaker is crushed, allowing you to move on.

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

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

30. Repair of the propeller-steering complex.

31. Installation of the blade.

32. Bolts securing the blade to the propeller hub, each of the four blades is attached with nine bolts.

33. Almost all vessels of the Russian icebreaker fleet are equipped with propellers manufactured at the Zvyozdochka plant.

Nuclear icebreaker "Lenin"

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

35. The icebreaker "Lenin" worked for 31 years and in 1990 was decommissioned and put into eternal parking in Murmansk. Now there is a museum on the icebreaker, work is underway to expand the exposition.

36. The compartment in which there were two nuclear installations. Two dosimetrists went inside, measuring the level of radiation and controlling 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 purposes - the development of the Northern Sea Route and the escort of civilian ships.

37. Wheelhouse.

38. Front staircase.

39. 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 ...

40. Murmansk is the world's largest city located beyond the Arctic Circle. It is on a rocky east coast Kola Bay of the Barents Sea.

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

The first icebreaker appeared back in the 18th century, it was a small steamer breaking ice in the harbor of Philadelphia. A lot of time has passed since then, the wheel was replaced by a turbine, then by a nuclear reactor, and now the Arctic ice is being broken. In our TOP - 10 largest icebreakers in the world.

1 "Sevmorput", length 260 meters

Strictly speaking, this is an icebreaking transport vessel, the height of a multi-storey building. But "Sevmorput" is able to pass the ice 1 meter thick, and who's to say that he did not deserve the title of icebreaker?

2 "Arctic", length 173 meters


Arktika is a nuclear-powered icebreaker launched in 2016, the first in a series of newest nuclear-powered icebreakers Russian Federation. The icebreaker can break and move through ice up to 2.9 meters thick.

3 "50 Years of Victory", length 159.6 meters


The nuclear-powered icebreaker of the Arktika class (sea, in contrast to the Taimyr class, river), is distinguished by a deep landing and impressive power. "50 Years of Victory" is a typical long-term construction, the construction of which took place from 1989 to 2007. Despite the long start, by now the ship has more than 100 trips to the North Pole.

4 "Taimyr", length 151.8 meters


Taimyr is a nuclear-powered icebreaker that breaks ice up to 1.77 meters thick at river mouths so ships can enter. Features - reduced landing and the ability to work in extremely low temperatures.

5 "Vaigach", length 151.8 meters


The brother of "Taimyr", built according to the same project with him, but a little younger. The nuclear equipment on the ship was installed in 1990.

6 "Yamal", length 150 meters


Yamal is the same famous icebreaker that celebrated the beginning of the third millennium at the North Pole. In total, the number of flights to the North Pole is close to 50.

7 "Healy", length 128 meters


Healy is the largest icebreaker in the United States, on which Americans first independently reached the North Pole in 2015. This ship is literally crammed with the latest measuring and laboratory instruments, as its main function is research.

8 "Polar Sea", length 122 meters


Another US icebreaker, an "old man" in the fleet, built in 1977. The home port is Seattle, but it looks like this icebreaker will be scrapped soon, and our Top Ten Largest Icebreakers will have to be rewritten.

9 "Louis S. St-Laurent", length 120 meters


The Canadian "Louis S. St-Laurent" was built even earlier - in 1969, but in 1993 it underwent a complete modernization. This is the largest icebreaker in Canada, which in 1994 became the first ship in the world to reach the North Pole from the coast of North America.

10 "Polarstern", length 118 meters


This German research vessel was built in 1982. Old age made its creators think about a replacement, and in 2017 the Polarstern-II is expected to take over the watch of the Arctic patrol.