SS ''Baikal'' was an ice-breaking

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

that linked the eastern and western portions of the

Trans-Siberian Railroad The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

across

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

Ship history

In early 1895 the construction of a ferry across the

began, following the proposal of the Minister of Transport Mikhail Khilkov. On 30 December 1895 a contract with Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

was signed for the parts of the icebreaking ferry (without woodwork and in disassembled state). Transport involved sending 7,000 crates with the disassembled from the UK to St Petersburg and then onward for assembly. The boilers, at some 20 tonnes were said to particularly challenging to transport and other parts of the ship went missing or were stolen during transport so had to be replaced. By June 1896 the icebreaker had been delivered for assembly to the village of Listvenichnoye. After three years it was completed and launched on . Before the Circum-Baikal Railway was opened in 1905, ''Baikal'', and later also the ''Angara'', carried two loads a day between piers at

Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast. At —slightly larger tha ...

and Mysovaya. After the railway was completed, both ships continued to operate in reserve. When the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

broke out ''Baikal'' was equipped with machine guns and cannons by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. When

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

surrendered to the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

, ''Baikal'' sailed to the Mysovaya pier, the location of the Red Army headquarters. On 15 August 1918, the icebreaker was damaged by field artillery fire from the White Forces of the

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...

during the Battle of Lake Baikal. It was burnt at the Mysovaya pier and sunk alongside. In 1920 the damaged hull was refloated and towed to Port Baikal. It remained untouched until at least 1926, and was later dismantled. There is a possibility that its lower hull, bow propeller, and part of the engines are still at the bottom of the lake at the mouth of the

Angara River The Angara (; ) or Angar ( мүрэн) is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is the headwater tributary of the Yenisey. It is long, and has a ...

References

External links

Great ice-breaker of a sad destiny

1899 ships Ferries of Russia Icebreakers of Russia Maritime incidents in November 1939 Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth Ships built in the Soviet Union Ships built on the River Tyne Train ferries Trans-Siberian Railway World War II merchant ships of the Soviet Union {{ferry-stub