Krasin (icebreaker, 1916)

Build

The vessel for the Russian fleet under the improved design of the Makarovsky Ermak , under building number 904, was laid at the beginning of 1916 on the slipways of the English company WG Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd. in Newcastle , launched on August 3 of the same year, was being completed at Middlesboro.

In September 1916, a team was formed, and on October 1 of that year, the icebreaker was included in the list of ships of the Navy of the Russian Empire under the name "Svyatogor" . In March 1917, acceptance tests were held. March 3, 1917 the ship went to sea, but, after only 15 miles, returned to the port. The captain of Svyatogor , K. K. Neupokoev, reported that the ship did not obey the helm, deviating from the course by 40 degrees in both directions. On March 31, 1917 , after some alterations, the St. Andrew flag was hoisted on Svyatore . The ship was finally completed on September 15, 1917 . Included in the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean .

According to Rudolf Samoilovich , the icebreaker, with an average coal consumption of about 100 tons per day and a full load of coal, had an autonomy of fuel for about one month. The design of British steam boilers was designed to use high-quality Cardiff coal, which subsequently made bunkering difficult at high latitudes. Soviet Kuznetsk coal did not allow to develop full capacity. The coal deposits of Svalbard , which is widespread in Norway, were not suitable for the icebreaker at all, since they produced a long flame, unacceptable for boilers of this type. ^[2]

Svyatogor

For several decades, he was the most powerful Arctic icebreaker in the world. The icebreaker was immediately used to secure the passage of British ships with military cargo to Arkhangelsk . The military service of Svyatora did not last long and ended in 1918 - the icebreaker was flooded in shallow water near the mouth of the Chizhovka River at its confluence with the Northern Dvina in Arkhangelsk. According to Soviet historiography, the goal was to block the way for the intervention ships to Arkhangelsk, but as it turned out, it was enough to close the kingstones and pump out water to raise the ship. ^[3]

The intervention was undertaken by England , the Entente of Russia on the Entente in the still ongoing war with Germany . The official purpose of the intervention was to protect weapons and ammunition delivered by the allies of Russia and stored in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk from being transferred to the Germans ^[4] . At the end of February 1920, the interventionists left, taking the icebreaker with them.

Back in November 1919, the icebreaking ship “ Solovey Budimirovich ” was sent to Kanin Nos with the aim of buying meat from the Nenets for starving residents of Arkhangelsk, but it was wiped out in the ice and carried to the Kara Sea . The ship's drift lasted almost four months. An icebreaker Fyodor Litke was sent to help, but he was not able to break through the ice. The Bolsheviks through Norway requested Svyatogor in England for rent. With the help of Svyatogor, Fyodor Litke brought the wreck to clean water. "Svyatogor" went to England. ^[five]

Krasin

In December 1921, the Soviet government proposed to buy the icebreaker from England. For the icebreaker it was necessary to pay a portion of the total price of 75,000 pounds (of the total contract value of 375,000 pounds) ^[6] . By 1922 , with the active participation of the famous shipbuilder A.N. Krylov and the Soviet trade representative in the UK, L. B. Krasin , the icebreaker was bought out ^[7] .

In 1927, the icebreaker was renamed “Krasin” in memory of the Soviet diplomat , who did a lot to return the ship to Russia.

Soon, the icebreaker became famous throughout the world. In 1928, when returning from the North Pole , the airship " Italy " crashed.

The surviving members of the expedition of General Umberto Nobile and he himself were among the icy desert. Of all the ships sent to the rescue, only Krasin was able to get to the expedition ice camp and save people.

On the way back, he assisted the German passenger ship Monte Cervantes with one and a half thousand passengers on board, which received holes after flying over the ice. For this heroic campaign, the icebreaker was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor .

The war found an icebreaker in the Far East . Krasin was forced to cross the Pacific and Atlantic oceans , the Panama Canal to keep pace with the start of navigation in the western sector of the Arctic. The last part of his journey took place as part of the Northern convoy PQ-15 .

After the transition, everyday work, but dangerous work in the war-torn Arctic followed. For one of the caravans of transports led by Krasin, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer was hunting, and only a miracle saved the icebreaker and its caravan from meeting with it. According to some reports, Krasin’s anti-aircraft gunners, when repelling a raid by enemy aircraft, shot down 1 enemy aircraft. After the war, the icebreaker continued to work in the Arctic.

In the 1950s, Krasin underwent major repairs and modernization at the shipyards of the GDR . His appearance is changing, now he becomes like his grandchildren - diesel-electric icebreakers of the post-war construction.

“Krasin” worked as an icebreaker until 1972 , then the veteran of the icebreaker fleet was transferred to the Arctic Marine Exploration Expedition (MAGE) , which was part of the Sevmorgeologiya PGO of the USSR Ministry of Geology. Two of the three steam engines were eliminated, and two three-phase turbogenerators were installed in their place. Krasin from the class of icebreakers was transferred to the class of research vessels and began to be used as a floating power station for the exploration of oil and gas in the Arctic seas.

In 1976, the name Krasin was given to a new diesel-electric icebreaker built in Finland by the Värtsilä shipyard at the request of the Soviet Union. Until 1990, this icebreaker operated in Murmansk , then was transferred to the port of Vladivostok .

Termination of Service and Museum Ship

By the beginning of 1989, it became too burdensome to maintain the Krasin icebreaker. It was necessary either to find an organization that would take Krasin into its balance sheet, or to reconcile with its actual loss for history. Discussing this problem with Mingeo, Academician A. L. Yanshin proposed saving the ship. However, academics did not agree to transfer the vessel to the USSR Academy of Sciences. A. L. Yanshin asked A. I. Melua (who headed the International Organization for the History of Science Public Organization) to accept the vessel on the balance sheet of the Finance Ministry, with the promised transfer of funds and opportunities for Krasin to the Finance Ministry. Sevmorgeo signed an act of transfer on August 10, 1989. The IFF began to provide the vessel and its crew at the expense of their funds (sources of funds - receipts from the Leningrad collective participants of the Fund and personal book publishing activities). According to the KTM standards, the crew (more than 50 people) received three meals a day, a monthly salary, routine maintenance, payment of fuel supplies around the clock (even in the parking lot) of the steam engine, and the like. At the same time, a museum-exhibition program was developed and started to be implemented. “Krasin” received in Leningrad its own current account, the manager of the funds on which was the captain of the vessel A. I. Barykin. Funds for this account came from the Finance Ministry and the collective members of the Finance Ministry. “Krasin” was transferred from Murmansk to Leningrad. With difficulty, but managed to achieve non-alcoholic service by the crew. The IFF had to take emergency measures to prevent the crew from trying to take the ship offshore. Three Krasin exits took place: two with a visit to Rotterdam, London, Oslo and one within the Soviet part of the Baltic to study the state of the water basin. When visiting Rotterdam, the captain of the ship, A. I. Barykin, on the basis of his authority under the KTM, allowed the crew to transport the vehicles they bought for personal use from Rotterdam to Leningrad. However, in connection with the change in the socio-political situation in the country after August 10, 1989, absolutely no help was received from the Sevmorgeo, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, city services for the MFIN. The situation was aggravated by unlawful actions of part of the crew, which continued to be provided by the Moscow Finance Ministry (“museum” of the vessel left the crew of 50 people a lot of free time). The IFF was often forced to seek help in cleaning up the police department of the Leningrad Sea Port, the KGB, and the border service. Only the Tehimex JV responded to the MFIN’s appeals, which suggested continuing the Krasina museum program. Under the sales contract, Krasin was transferred to him, and the funds were transferred in an amount corresponding to the debt of Krasin to the tax authority. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance and Techimex submitted to the Government the documents on the continuation of work on Krasin, supported by the USSR Ministry of Marine and other competent institutions. From the published documents of government agencies, it is clear that the alleged sale of Krasin for scrap in the United States was speculation. Until Krasin acquired the status of a historical monument (late 1991 - early 1992), none of the so-called "saviors" of the ship put a penny into its contents; the security was provided from the funds of the Moscow Finance Ministry, and subsequently - from the funds of Techimex ^[8] .

Documents published in 2015 by government agencies convincingly showed the correctness of the measures taken by the IFF to preserve the ship ^[9] . Now the icebreaker's parking lot is the embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt , at the Mining Institute . The icebreaker is currently a branch of the Kaliningrad Museum of the World Ocean .

In the fall of 2014, the icebreaker was repaired at the Kronstadt Marine Plant ^[10] . September 20, 2014 he was towed to the dry dock. Veleshchinsky ^[11] . Main works: cleaning and multi-stage painting of the hull and superstructure of the ship, cleaning of ballast tanks from rust, repair of valves, bottom-and-outboard fittings, screw-steering group, testing of icebreaker mechanisms. Particular attention was paid to the outer lining of the ship: some of the riveted joints and riveted joints were significantly worn out. On November 28, 2014, Krasin was towed ^[10] back to the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, and on December 6 ^{[12] the} museum continued to operate normally.

Captains of Krasin ^[13] :

• 1917 - Neupokoev, K.K.
• 1917 - Zwigman A.K.
• 1917-1918 - Dreyer N.A.
• 1918 (August) - Rubinstein A.E.
• 1918-1919 - Bate CL (Great Britain)
• 1920 - O'Brien B. (United Kingdom)
• 1920-1921 - Sverdrup O. (Norway)
• 1921-1923 - Falk Mousse (Norway)
• 1923-1926, 1929-1930, 1931-1932 - M. Sorokin
• 1928 - Aggie C.P.
• 1932, 1934 - Ponomarev P.A.
• 1932-1933 - Legzdin J.P.
• 1934-1935, 1936 - Stukkenberg N. M.
• 1935-1937 - Sergievsky D.N.
• 1935-1936, 1937-1938 - M. Belousov
• 1936, 1939 - Gothic M.V.
• 1940-1945 - Markov M.G.
• 1945-1947 - A. Vetrov
• 1950 - Inyushkin N.F.
• 1947-1951 - Pirozhkov I.V.
• 1953 - Polyakov G.N.
• 1953-1960 - Makarov B.N.
• 1960-1961, 1963 - D.N. Chukhchin
• 1961-1962 - Kuchiev Yu.S. (acting)
• 1962, 1966-1967, 1970-1971 - Kuznetsov A.P.
• 1964 - Khlebnikov Yu.K.
• 1965, 1976-1977 - Fedoseev F.I.
• 1968-1969 - Vavilov E.A.
• 1972-1973 - Gromov O.A.
• 1973-1974 - R. Gaidovsky
• 1974-1976 - Zakharov V.V.
• 1976 - Lobantsev V.G.
• 1977, 1978-1980 - I. Kurzanov
• 1977 - Shityuk S.P.
• 1980-1981 - Kokorev L.N.
• 1981 - Elk D. D.
• 1981-1984 - Petrochenkov V.N.
• 1984-1988, 1989 - Shishkin V.A.
• 1988 - S. Lukichyov
• 1988—1989 - Vasiliev V.M.
• 1989-1990 - Barykin A.I.
• 1990-1991 - Cheremshanov V.I.
• 1991-1992 - A. Delitsin
• 1994-1995 - Skorbich I.M.
• 1995 - Mamaev L. B.
• 1996—2001 - Burak L. Yu.
• 2002-2003 - Gorbachev V.A. (acting)
• 2004-2006 - Vasiliev E. A.
• 2006—2007 - Savin V.A.
• 2008 (beginning), 2014 (January-June) - Zverev O.N. (acting)
• 2008—2014 (January) - Presnyakov B.N.
• 2014—2017 Kramchaninov N.A.
• 2017- up to now time Rykov A.M.

In the film “ Red Tent ” (1969), instead of the real “Krasin”, the icebreaker “ Sibiryakov ” was shot - the former Finnish icebreaker “Jääkarhu” (that is, “Polar Bear”), built in Rotterdam in 1926 and transferred to the Soviet Union in 1945 as reparations. After the overhaul and modernization carried out in the GDR in the 1950s, the Krasin itself had little resemblance in appearance to the icebreaker that helped the Italian polar travelers in 1928 .

• The icebreaker Krasin is depicted on the postage stamp of the USSR in 1976 and on the postage stamp of Russia in 2008.

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  Icebreaker Krasin at the dock of the Kanonersky shipyard, 1990s.

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  Icebreaker Krasin , 1932.

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  Monument to the icebreaker "Krasin" in the memorial to "Conquerors of the Arctic" in Murmansk .

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  Icebreaker "Krasin" on a postage stamp of the USSR, 1976.

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  Icebreaker Krasin on the Commemorative Coin of Russia .

• Samoilovich R.L. SOS in the Arctic. Expedition "Krasina" . - Berlin: Petropolis, 1930 .-- 260 p.
• Samoilovich R.L. In the ice of the Arctic. Campaign "Krasin" summer 1928. 3rd edition, revised and supplemented .. - Leningrad: Publishing House of the All-Union Arctic Institute, 1934.
• V. Redansky. The younger brother of "Ermak" // Model-Designer . - 1978. - No. 6 .
• Mindlin E.L. Krasin in the ice. - M .: State publishing house of children's literature of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, 1961.
• Icebreaker "Krasin" / [Comp .: D. Chapkis]. - SPb. : White and Black, 2001. - 140, [1] p. ISBN 5-89771-023-6
• "ST. PETERSBURG Vedomosti" September 13, 91. "" KRASIN "TOLERATES DISASTER" [1]
• “Kommersant” Number 035 from 02-09-91 The legendary “Krasin” floats away for scrap metal [2]
• History of the Krasin icebreaker [3]
• Federal Investigation Agency [4]
• Frolov S.V., Gavrilo M.V., Avetisov G.P. Scientific research on the icebreaker Krasin. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the raising of the St. Andrew’s flag on the icebreaker. // Russian polar studies. 2017. No. 1 (27). C. 46-49.

• Icebreaker "Krasin" (neopr.) . Museum of the World Ocean, a branch in St. Petersburg. Date of treatment July 4, 2010. Archived February 22, 2012.
• Peter Sobolev. Album 228 (unopened) . Wandering Camera (2003). Date of treatment July 4, 2010. Archived February 22, 2012.
• Black means happy From the history of the Icebreaker Krasin
• Interactive panorama of the wheelhouse of the Krasin icebreaker