''Arktika'' ( rus, А́рктика, p=ˈarktʲɪkə; literally:

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

) is a retired nuclear-powered icebreaker of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(now

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n) ''Arktika'' class. In service from 1975 to 2008, she was the first surface ship to reach the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

, a feat achieved on August 17, 1977, during an expedition dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

. The ''Arktika'' is a double-hulled icebreaker; the outer hull is thick, the inner thick, with the space in between utilized for water ballasting. At the strongest point, the cast steel prow is ) thick and bow-shaped to aid in icebreaking, the curve applying greater dynamic force to fracture the ice than a straight bow would. The maximum ice thickness it can break through is approximately . ''Arktika'' also has an air bubbling system (ABS) which delivers 24 m³/s of steam from jets below the surface to further aid in the breakup of ice.Pike, J. Project 10520 Arktika/ Global Security.Org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/10520.htm The ship is divided by eight bulkheads, providing nine watertight compartments, and can undergo short towing operations when needed. It also comes equipped with a helicopter pad and hangar at the aft of the ship. Mil Mi-2 "Hoplite", dubbed ''ptichka'' ( Russian for "little bird"), or Kamov Ka-27 "Helix" helicopters are used for scouting expeditions to find safe routes through the ice floes.Walston, O. (1994), Arktika. London: Reed Consumer Ltd.

Construction

Construction of the ship began in the Baltic Shipyard in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

on July 3, 1971.Olagaard, P. Reistad, O. (April 2006). Russian Nuclear Power Plants for Marine Applications Sea trials completed successfully on December 17, 1975. For further information on the ship's design, construction and propulsion system, see .

Renaming controversy

In 1982, she was rechristened ''Leonid Brezhnev'' in honour of

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

, the

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

from 1964 until his death in 1982. In 1986 the name reverted to ''Arktika'', according to some accounts because the ship's crew disliked the new name and refused to respond to radio messages unless the ship was referred to as ''Arktika''. Within a week of the strike, the name was changed back.Walston, O. (1994), Arktika. London: Reed Consumer Ltd. Another explanation is that the original name change had been due to an administrative mixup, and the name ''Leonid Brezhnev'' had never been supposed to apply to ''Arktika'' at all, but had been intended for a different ship.

Service history

The vessel was in service from 1975 to 2008. ''Arktika'' was retired for several years, but was repaired in the late 1990s. Originally designed for 100,000 hours of reactor life, ''Arktika''s service life was prolonged another 50,000 hours in 2000, and another 25,000 hours after that, adding eight years to a 25-year planned service life. The life extension was accomplished by means of replacing critical equipment to allow the safe and continued operation of the nuclear plant. On May 17, 2000, a conference of Russian engineers, scientists, and government officials took place on board ''Arktika'' after her first service extension. The extension cost only $4 million, compared to the $30–50 million cost of a new nuclear icebreaker, and proved to be a successful endeavor. The conference therefore concluded that the lifetimes of Russian nuclear icebreakers could be successfully extended to 175,000 hours, and possibly more. On April 9, 2007, a fire broke out on ''Arktika''. The fire caused minor damage to three cabins and knocked out an electricity-distribution panel. The nuclear reactor was not damaged. There were no injuries. The icebreaker was in the Kara Sea when the blaze erupted, and was sent to Murmansk.

Withdrawal

After 33 years of reliable icebreaking, having become the first surface ship to reach the North Pole in 1977, and the first civilian ship to spend more than a year at sea without making port in 2000, and covering more than a million

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...

s by 2005, ''Arktika'' was retired in October 2008. She is docked at Atomflot, the nuclear base and dock in Murmansk, away from the main docks, where she will remain until policies can be drawn up to dismantle her. In the meantime, she is a subject of important research, focused mainly on how to further extend the service life of the other ''Arktika''-class icebreakers. There have been calls for the ship to be converted to a museum, either in Murmansk or St. Petersburg. An earlier Soviet nuclear icebreaker, ''Lenin'', is already a museum ship in Murmansk."Arktika" could become museum
''Barents Observer'', August 17, 2012

Gallery

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arktika (Icebreaker) 1972 ships 1972 establishments in the Soviet Union 1986 controversies 1986 protests Arktika-class icebreakers Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard North Pole