On August 26, 1941, the linear icebreaker "Anastas Mikoyan" hastily departed from the outfitting wall of the Nikolaev shipyard named after Marty and, heavily burying its nose in the oncoming waves, headed for Sevastopol. There was no solemn orchestra on the pier, and enthusiastic spectators did not greet it. The ship quickly went to sea to the accompaniment of the roar of anti-aircraft guns, reflecting the next raid of enemy bombers. Thus began his long journey. A path full of dangers, mystical signs and incredible rescues.
Since the early 1930s, the USSR government has paid close attention to the Arctic. The pragmatic Stalinist people's commissars clearly understood that the transportation of goods by northern waterway from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and back promises great prospects, but only if regular shipping is organized there. By order of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on October 17, 1932, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route was created. Of course, mastering such a difficult route was impossible without building a powerful icebreaker fleet. Using the experience of operating the icebreakers "Ermak" and "Krasin", Soviet designers developed a new type of ships that met all the requirements of the most modern shipbuilding. The lead linear icebreaker "I. Stalin "was launched from the slipway of the Leningrad plant named after S. Ordzhonikidze on April 29, 1937, and on August 23 the following year, he went on his first Arctic voyage. After him, two more ships of the same type were laid down: in Leningrad - "V. Molotov ", in Nikolaev -" L. Kaganovich ". The last, third, vessel from this series was also laid down in Nikolaev at the A. Marty shipyard in November 1935 under the name “O. Yu. Schmidt ". The icebreaker was launched in 1938, and the following year it was renamed “A. Mikoyan”. The ship turned out to be wonderful. For example, only high-quality steel was used for the manufacture of the hull, the number of frames was doubled. This technical innovation has significantly increased the strength of the sides. The thickness of the steel sheets in the bow was up to 45 mm. The vessel had a double bottom, four decks and 10 watertight bulkheads, which guaranteed the survivability of the vessel when any two compartments were flooded. The ship was equipped with three steam engines with a capacity of 3300 hp each. each one. Three four-blade propellers provided a maximum speed of 15, 5 knots (about 30 km / h), the cruising range was 6,000 nautical miles. The icebreaker had nine Scottish-type coal-fired steam boilers and several power plants. The life-saving appliances included six lifeboats and two motor boats. The vessel was equipped with a powerful radio station with a huge range. During the design and construction, much attention was paid to living conditions. For the crew of 138 staff, comfortable double and quadruple cabins, a wardroom, dining rooms, a library, a shower, a bath with a steam room, an infirmary, a mechanized kitchen were provided - all this made the new icebreaker the most comfortable in the fleet. The acceptance of the vessel by the State Commission was scheduled for December 1941. However, all plans were confused by the war.
In order to avoid the destruction of the icebreaker by enemy aircraft on the stocks of the plant in Nikolaev, the incompletely completed ship had to be urgently taken out to sea. The most experienced sailor, captain of the 2nd rank S. M. Sergeeva. Sergei Mikhailovich fought in Spain, was the chief of staff of the destroyer battalion of the republican fleet. For skillful leadership of hostilities and personal courage, he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner.
By decision of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, the Mikoyan that arrived in Sevastopol was converted into an auxiliary cruiser. It was equipped with seven 130-mm, four 76-mm and six 45-mm guns, as well as four 12, 7-mm DShK anti-aircraft machine guns. Any domestic destroyer could envy such weapons. The firing range of 34-kilogram projectiles "Mikoyan" hundred and thirty millimeters was 25 kilometers, the rate of fire 7-10 rounds per minute. At the beginning of September 1941, the armament of the ship was completed, the naval flag of the RKKF was raised on the ship. The ship was manned by a crew according to wartime states, the deputy for political affairs, senior political instructor Novikov, the commander of the navigational combat unit, Lieutenant-Commander Marlyan, arrived on the ship, and Lieutenant-Commander Kholin was appointed senior assistant. The artillerymen were taken under the command of Senior Lieutenant Sidorov, the machine command was taken over by Lieutenant Engineer Zlotnik. But the most valuable replenishment for the warship that became a warship was the workers of the acceptance and repair teams of the plant. Marty. They were real masters of their craft, highly qualified specialists who knew their ship very well literally to the last screw: Ivan Stetsenko, Fedor Khalko, Alexander Kalbanov, Mikhail Ulich, Nikolai Nazaraty, Vladimir Dobrovolsky and others.
In the fall of 1941, German and Romanian aviation dominated the skies over the Black Sea. The anti-aircraft guns and machine guns mounted on the icebreaker were serious weapons, sufficient to equip a small destroyer or nimble patrol. Anti-aircraft weapons were clearly not enough to reliably cover the huge vessel with a displacement of 11,000 tons, a length of 107 m and a width of 23 m. To improve protection against air attacks, the ship's craftsmen tried to adapt the main battery guns for firing at aircraft. This was a revolutionary decision, before that no one had fired the main caliber at air targets. The commander of the BC-5, Senior Lieutenant Engineer Jozef Zlotnik, proposed an original method for implementing this idea: to make the vertical aiming angle larger, increase the embrasures in the gun shields. Autogen did not take armor steel, then the former shipbuilder Nikolai Nazaraty completed all the work in a few days using electric welding.
The armed icebreaker, which has now become an auxiliary cruiser, by order of the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet was included in the squadron of ships in the northwestern region of the Black Sea, which, as part of the Komintern cruiser, the Nezamozhnik and Shaumyan destroyers, the gunboat division and other floaters, was intended to provide fire support for the defenders of Odessa. Upon arrival at the Odessa naval base, the ship was immediately included in the city's defense system. For several days, the guns of the auxiliary cruiser A. Mikoyan crushed the positions of the German and Romanian troops, simultaneously repelling the raids of enemy aircraft. One day, when the icebreaker entered the position for artillery fire, it was attacked by a flight of Junkers. Anti-aircraft fire one plane was instantly shot down, the second caught fire and headed towards the ship, apparently the German pilot decided to ram the ship. The cruiser, which had practically no progress and was deprived of the ability to maneuver, was doomed, but … literally a few tens of meters from the board, the Junkers unexpectedly pecked its nose and fell into the water with a fireball. Having spent all the ammunition, the icebreaker went to Sevastopol to receive supplies.
The next combat mission assigned to the cruiser A. Mikoyan ", consisted in the artillery support of the famous landing near Grigorievka. On September 22, 1941, the ship smashed the enemy with its volleys in the zone of operations of the 3rd Marine Regiment. Several artillery batteries were suppressed by well-aimed fire from the gunners, a number of fortifications and strongholds of the enemy were destroyed, and a large number of manpower was destroyed. The Mikoyanites received gratitude from the command of the Primorsky Army for their excellent shooting. After the completion of the heroic defense of Odessa, the ship's combat service continued. The icebreaker took part in the defense of Sevastopol, where, fulfilling the orders of the city's defense headquarters, repeatedly opened fire on accumulations of enemy troops, but the main occupation of the auxiliary cruiser was regular raids between Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. The vessel, which had a large volume of internal living quarters, was used to evacuate the wounded, civilians and valuable cargo. In particular, it was at the Mikoyan that part of the historical relic, the famous panorama of Franz Roubaud "Sevastopol Defense", was removed.
In early November 1941, the ship was recalled from the theater of operations "to carry out an important government assignment," as it was said in the received radiogram. The icebreaker arrived at the port of Batumi, where the guns were dismantled within a week, and then the naval flag was replaced with the national one. The auxiliary cruiser A. Mikoyan again became a linear icebreaker. Part of the crew left for other ships and the land front, the ship's artillery was used to equip batteries near Ochamchira.
In the fall of 1941, the USSR State Defense Committee made a very peculiar decision - to drive three large tankers from the Black Sea to the North and the Far East (Sakhalin, Varlaam Avanesov, Tuapse) and the linear icebreaker A. Mikoyan . This was due to the acute shortage of tonnage for the carriage of goods. On the Black Sea, these ships had nothing to do, but in the North and the Far East they were badly needed. In addition, due to the instability of the front and a number of defeats of the Red Army by the Wehrmacht in the South of the country, there was a real threat of capture or destruction of both the military and civilian fleet of the USSR, concentrated in the Black Sea ports. The decision was absolutely justified, but its implementation looked absolutely fantastic. Crossing by inland waterways to the North was impossible. The ships could not pass through the river systems due to too much draft, besides the Finnish troops in the fall of 1941 reached the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the area of the Povenets lock system and tightly blocked this waterway. Consequently, it was necessary to go through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, further around Africa, cross the Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean and arrive in Vladivostok. Even in peacetime, such a transition is quite difficult, but here it is a war.
But the most "interesting" Soviet ships lay ahead. During hostilities, civilian ships used as military transports usually received some kind of weapons - a couple of guns, several anti-aircraft machine guns. Of course, such equipment did not give much against a serious enemy, however, with such a weapon, a convoy of several units was quite capable of driving a single destroyer away from itself, fighting off an attack from several aircraft, and protecting itself from an attack by torpedo boats. In addition, warships were almost always accompanied by transports. For Soviet sailors, this option was excluded. The fact is that Turkey declared its neutrality by banning the passage of warships of all belligerent countries through the Straits. No exception was made for armed transports. In addition, Turkey was terrified of the invasion of Soviet and British troops: the example of Iran was in front of her eyes. Therefore, the frank sympathies of the Ankara government were on the side of Germany, which was confidently winning on all fronts so far. Axis spies of all stripes felt at home in Istanbul. Moreover, the Aegean Sea was controlled by Italian and German ships based on numerous islands. On about. Lesvos was a destroyer detachment, and a torpedo boat base was located in Rhodes. Air cover was provided by bombers and torpedo bombers of the Italian Air Force. In a word, a cruise along the route of 25 thousand miles across five seas and three oceans to unarmed ships was tantamount to suicide. However, an order is an order. On November 24, the teams said goodbye to their families, and the transition began. To confuse enemy reconnaissance, upon leaving the port, a small caravan of three tankers and an icebreaker escorted by the leader "Tashkent" and the destroyers "Capable and" Smart "headed north towards Sevastopol. Waiting for darkness, the convoy abruptly changed course and moved at full speed towards the Straits. A fierce storm broke out at sea, soon in the darkness the ships lost each other, and the icebreaker had to break through the raging sea alone. To the Bosphorus “A. Mikoyan "came independently, the harbor boat opened the boom, and on November 26, 1941, the ship dropped anchor in the Istanbul harbor. The city impressed the sailors with its "non-military" life. The streets were brightly lit, well-dressed people walked along the embankments, and music was heard from numerous cafes. After the ruins and conflagrations of Odessa and Sevastopol, everything that happened looked simply unreal. In the morning, the Soviet naval attaché in Turkey, Captain 1st Rank Rodionov, and a representative of the British military mission, Lieutenant Commander Rogers, arrived on the icebreaker. By prior agreement between the governments of the USSR and Great Britain, the icebreaker and tankers to the port of Famagusta in Cyprus were to be accompanied by British warships. However, Rogers said that England did not have the ability to escort ships and they would have to get there without guards. It was akin to betrayal. Whatever the motives were not guided by the "enlightened navigators", the crews of the Soviet ships faced the most difficult task - to break through on their own. After some consultation, the captains of the icebreaker and the arriving tankers decided to go along the given route one by one, at night, away from the "knurled" shipping routes.
At 01.30 am on November 30, the icebreaker began to choose an anchor. A Turkish pilot arrived on board, when he was told where the ship was going, he only shook his head sympathetically. Cleaving the oily waves with its massive stem, the Mikoyan cautiously moved south. The night was very dark, it was raining, so his departure was unnoticed by enemy reconnaissance. Istanbul is left behind. At the ship meeting, Captain Sergeev announced the purpose of the cruise, explained what the sailors could expect on the crossing. The crew decided, when trying to capture the ship by the enemy, to defend themselves to the last, using all available means, and if it does not work to prevent the capture, to flood the ship. The entire arsenal of the icebreaker consisted of 9 pistols and one hunting "Winchester"; primitive pikes and other "deadly" weapons were hastily made in the ship's workshops. The emergency party rolled fire hoses across the decks, prepared boxes of sand and other fire-fighting equipment. A reliable watch of communist volunteers was set up near the Kingston valves.
The observers closely watched the sea and the air, in the engine room the stokers tried to make sure that even one spark would not fly out of the chimneys. Radio operators Koval and Gladush listened to the broadcast, occasionally catching intense conversations in German and Italian. During daylight hours, Captain Sergeev skillfully sheltered the ship in the area of some island, approaching the shore as close as the depth allowed. At dusk, in a storm, Soviet sailors unnoticed managed to bypass the island of Samos, where the enemy had an observation post equipped with powerful searchlights.
On the third night the moon peeped out, the sea calmed down, and the icebreaker, desperately smoking with its chimneys due to low-quality coal, became immediately noticeable. The most dangerous point of the route was approaching - Rhodes, where the Italian-German troops had a large military base. During the night they did not have time to slip through the island, there was nowhere to hide, and Captain Sergeev decided to follow on at his own risk. Soon the signalmen noticed two rapidly approaching points. A combat alert was played on the ship, but what could an unarmed ship do against two Italian torpedo boats? Sergeev decided to use a trick. The boats approached and from there they requested belonging and the destination using flags according to the international code. There was no point in answering this question, the waving red flag with a golden hammer and sickle spoke for itself. However, to gain time, the mechanic Khamidulin climbed onto the wing of the bridge and answered in Turkish over a megaphone that the ship was Turkish, heading for Smyrna. The boats flew flags with the signal "Follow me." The direction suggested by the Italians so far coincided with the planned course, and the icebreaker obediently turned around behind the lead boat, organizing a small caravan: in front of the boat, followed by the Mikoyan, and another boat went aft. The icebreaker moved slowly, hoping to approach Rhodes as late as possible, to all demands to increase speed, Captain Sergeev refused, citing a breakdown in the car. The Italians, apparently, were very pleased: still, to capture an intact ship without firing a single shot! As soon as the mountains of Rhodes appeared on the horizon, Sergeev gave the command: "Full speed!", And "Mikoyan", picking up speed, turned sharply to the side. Apparently, the captain of the enemy "schnelboat" had already begun to celebrate victory in advance, as he had done an absolutely illogical act: launching whole garlands of missiles into the sky, he turned his boat across the course of the Soviet ship, substituting his side. Maybe in a peaceful environment this would have worked, but there was a war, and for a linear icebreaker, for which a meter-long ice - seeds, the Italian "tin" of problems in the event of a collision did not create. "Mikoyan" boldly went to the ram. Dodging a collision, the enemy ship moved parallel to the course of the Soviet ship, almost near the very side, the sailors of the boat rushed to the machine guns. And then a powerful jet of fire hydrant struck from the icebreaker, knocking down and stunning the enemy sailors. The second boat opened fire from all barrels on the sides and superstructure of the icebreaker. The wounded helmsman Rusakov fell, he was taken to the infirmary, and the sailor Molochinsky immediately took his place. Realizing that firing from a barreled weapon is ineffective, the Italians turned around and went into position for a torpedo attack. It seemed that the huge unarmed ship had come to an end. According to eyewitnesses, Captain Sergeev literally rushed around the wheelhouse from side to side, not paying attention to the whistling bullets and flying fragments of glass, tracking all boat maneuvers and constantly changing course.
Italian torpedo boat MS-15
Here the first two torpedoes rushed to the ship, quickly shifting the steering wheel, Sergeev turned the icebreaker with his nose in their direction, thus significantly reducing the area of destruction, and the torpedoes passed by. The Italian boatmen launched a new attack, this time from two sides. They also managed to evade one torpedo, while the other went right on target. Further nothing, as a miracle, can not be explained. The icebreaker, having made some kind of unthinkable circulation in a few seconds, managed to turn aft to rushing death and throw a torpedo with a wake stream, which, flashing in the foaming water, passed literally a meter from the side. Having shot all the ammunition, the boats left for Rhodes in powerless anger. They were replaced by two Cant-Z 508 seaplanes. Having descended, they dropped torpedoes of a special design on parachutes, which, when landing, begin to describe concentric tapering circles and are guaranteed to hit the target. However, this ingenious idea did not help, both "cigars" missed the mark. Having descended, the seaplanes began to fire at the plane from cannons and machine guns. Bullets punctured the crew boat's petrol-filled tank, and burning fuel poured onto the deck. The emergency party tried to fight the fire, but heavy bombardment from the planes forced the sailors to constantly hide behind the superstructures. The signalman Poleshchuk was wounded. And then, in the midst of an almost clear sky, a squall suddenly flew in, accompanied by heavy rain. The downpour knocked down the flame a little, a team of daredevils rushed to the hearth of the fire. Sailor Lebedev and boatswain Groisman desperately chopped the ropes with axes. An instant - and the burning boat flew overboard. Fire-damaged lifebuoys and other damaged equipment followed after him. Hiding behind a shroud of rain, the icebreaker moved farther and farther from the enemy shores, taking more than 500 holes on itself. On the air, they heard the roll call of enemy destroyers who went in search, but the Soviet ship was no longer available to them.
Seaplane of the Italian Air Force Cant z-508
The British naval base Famagusta, contrary to expectations, greeted the Mikoyanites unfriendly. The English officer who had climbed aboard for a long time and meticulously questioned the Soviet captain about what had happened, shaking his head in disbelief: after all, the Italians, having found the wreckage of the ill-fated boat and the burnt lifebuoys, had trumpeted to the whole world about the sinking of the Russian icebreaker. Finally the Englishman gave the order to proceed to Beirut. Shrugging his shoulders in bewilderment, Sergeev led the icebreaker along the indicated course, but even there the authorities, without even giving a day of parking to patch up the holes and eliminate the consequences of the fire, redirected the Mikoyan to Haifa. The sailors knew that the port was constantly being raided by Italian aircraft, but there was no choice, the ship needed repairs. Having safely completed the passage, in early December the Mikoyan dropped anchor in the Haifa port. Repair began, however, the next day the British authorities asked to move the ship. A day later, again, then again. In 17 days, the Soviet ship was rearranged six times! Sergeev's deputy Barkovsky recalled that, as it turned out later, in this way the allies "checked" the port water area for the presence of magnetic mines placed by enemy aircraft, using the icebreaker as a test subject.
Finally, the repairs were completed and the crew prepared to sail. The first to leave the port was the large English tanker "Phoenix", filled to capacity with oil products. Suddenly, a powerful explosion was heard under him: an Italian mine went off. The sea was flushed with burning oil. The crews of the ships docked in the port and the port officials rushed to flee in panic. "Mikoyan" had no move, the flames that had got close to it had already begun to lick the sides. The sailors, risking their lives, tried to knock him down with jets of water monitors. Finally the car came to life, and the icebreaker moved away from the pier. When the smoke cleared a little, the Soviet sailors faced a terrible picture: two more tankers were burning, people crowded at the stern of one of them. Turning the ship around, Sergeev headed for the ships in distress. Having ordered the emergency party to shoot down the flames with water from fire hoses and by this method pave the way to the emergency ship, the captain of the Soviet ship sent the last remaining boat to rescue those in distress. The people were taken out on time, the fire almost reached them, the ship's doctor immediately began to provide assistance to the burned and wounded. The signalman relayed a message that English anti-aircraft gunners had been cut off by fire on the breakwater. The ship's boat picked up people fleeing from the water, and there was clearly not enough time to use it to help the British artillerymen. Sergeev's eyes fell on the harbor tugs standing near the pier, abandoned by their crews. The captain called the volunteers over the speakerphone. The crew members, senior assistant Kholin, Barkovsky, Simonov and some others in a rowboat went through the fire to the jetty. The Soviet sailors started the tug engine, and the small boat boldly moved through the burning oil to the breakwater. Help came to the British anti-aircraft gunners in a timely manner: ammunition boxes began to smoke at the positions. The fire lasted for three days. During this time, the crew of the Soviet ship managed to rescue teams from two tankers, soldiers from gun crews, and provide assistance to several ships. Just before the icebreaker left the port, an English officer arrived on board and handed over a letter of gratitude from the British admiral, who thanked the icebreaker's personnel for the courage and staunchness shown in the rescue of British soldiers and sailors of foreign ships. By prior agreement, the British had to put several guns and anti-aircraft machine guns on the icebreaker, however, even here the "noble lords" remained true to themselves: instead of the promised weapons, the Mikoyan was equipped with one single salute gun of 1905 release. For what? The answer sounded derisive: "now you have the opportunity to give salute to nations when entering foreign ports."
The Suez Canal icebreaker passed at night, bypassing the protruding masts of sunken ships. Fires were blazing on the shores: the next raid of German aircraft had just ended. Ahead is Suez, where "A. Mikoyan" was supposed to receive the necessary supplies. The loading of coal, which is 2,900 tons, was carried out manually, captain Sergeev offered help: to use the ship's cargo mechanisms and allocate part of the team for the work. A categorical refusal followed from the British authorities, they tried to prevent the contact of Soviet people with local residents for fear of "red propaganda". During the loading operations, an incident occurred that angered the entire team. In his diary, sailor Alexander Lebedev wrote the following: “One of the Arabs, who was running with a basket of coal along the shaky gangway, stumbled and flew down. He fell back on the sharp iron side of the barge and apparently broke his spine. The ship's doctor Popkov rushed to his aid. But the overseers blocked his way. Picking up the groaning loader, they dragged him into the hold of the barge. To Sergeev's protest, the young dapper English officer replied with a cynical smile: "The life of a native, sir, is a cheap commodity." The current "bearers of universal human values" had excellent teachers.
On February 1, 1942, the Indian Ocean opened its arms in front of the ship. The transition was very difficult. On an icebreaker absolutely not adapted to sailing in the tropics, the team had to make inhuman efforts to complete the task. The sweltering heat was especially difficult for the machine team: the temperature in the premises reached 65 degrees Celsius. To facilitate keeping the watch, the captain ordered cold barley beer and ice water slightly tinted with dry wine to be given to the stokers. One day the signalmen noticed several smokes on the horizon. Soon two British destroyers approached the icebreaker and, for some unknown reason, fired a volley from their guns. Although the fire was fired from a distance of one and a half cables (about 250 m), not a single shell hit the ship! Finally, we managed to establish contact with the brave sons of the "mistress of the seas". It turned out that they mistook the Soviet icebreaker for a German raider, although from such a tiny distance, the absence of any weapons on board the Mikoyan and the waving red flag could not be seen only by a blind man.
Finally, the first planned anchorage, the port of Mombasa. Sergeev turned to the British commandant with a request to ensure the passage of the icebreaker through the Mozambique Strait, to which he was politely refused. To the completely fair remark of the Soviet captain that the path along the eastern coast of Madagascar is seven days longer, in addition, according to the same British, Japanese submarines were seen there, the commodore replied with a mock that Russia was not at war with Japan. Sergeev promised to complain to Moscow, and the Englishman reluctantly agreed, even having assigned a naval officer, Edward Hanson, for communication. However, the British resolutely refused to provide nautical charts of the strait to the Soviet sailors. The icebreaker moved forward again, meandering between the mass of small islands off the African coast. One day the ship got into a difficult situation, along the course, shoals were found everywhere. And then a miracle happened again. Boatswain Alexander Davidovich Groisman told about it this way: “During the hardest passage through the reefs, a dolphin nailed to the ship. There was no map. Sergeev ordered to turn on the music, and the dolphin, like a gallant pilot, led the sailors to safe places along with it."
In Cape Town, the icebreaker was welcomed; a note about his exploits had already been published in the press. There were no problems with supply, a convoy was formed in the port, which was supposed to go towards South America. Sergeev turned to the flagship with a request to enroll his ship in the caravan and take it under protection, but this time he was refused. Motivation - Travel too slow. To a completely reasonable objection that the convoy includes ships with a speed of 9 knots, and even after such a long transition, the Mikoyan confidently gives 12, the English officer, after a little thought, issued another excuse: coal is used as fuel on a Soviet ship, smoke from pipes will unmask the ships. Having finally lost faith in the sincerity of the allies' actions, Sergeev ordered to prepare for a withdrawal. Late in the evening of March 26, 1942, the icebreaker quietly weighed anchor and disappeared into the darkness of the night. In order to somehow protect themselves from possible encounters with German raiders, ship craftsmen built dummies of guns on the deck from improvised materials, giving the peaceful ship a menacing look.
The transition to Montevideo turned out to be very difficult, a merciless eight-point storm lasted 17 days. It should be noted that the icebreaker was not adapted to sailing in rough seas. It was a very stable ship, with a large metacentric height, which contributed to a rapid and sharp roll, sometimes the roll reached critical values of 56 degrees. The impact of the waves caused a number of damages on the deck, several accidents with boilers occurred in the engine room, but the sailors passed this test with honor. Finally, the murky waters of La Plata Bay appeared ahead. Captain Sergeev requested permission to enter the port, to which he received a response that neutral Uruguay does not allow foreign armed vessels to enter. In order to clear up the misunderstanding, it was necessary to call the representatives of the authorities in order to show them that the "weapons" on the ship were not real. Linear icebreaker "A. Mikoyan”was the first Soviet ship to visit this South American port. Its appearance caused an unprecedented excitement among local residents, and when sailors in full dress, solemnly lined up on Independence Square, laid flowers at the monument to the national hero of Uruguay, General Artigas, their adoration of the Russians reached its climax. The ship was frequented by delegations, excursions, just a lot of curious citizens. Soviet sailors were perplexed by constant requests to take off their uniform caps and show their heads. It turns out, as the "free" press has been telling the townsfolk for years, every bolshevik was obliged to have a pair of flirty horns on his head.
The further journey of the heroic icebreaker took place without incident, in the summer of 1942 "A. Mikoyan" entered the port of Seattle to repair and receive supplies. The Americans armed the ship quite well, installing three 76 mm cannons and ten 20 mm Oerlikon submachine guns. On August 9, 1942, the icebreaker dropped anchor in the Gulf of Anadyr, making an unprecedented three hundred daily voyage, 25 thousand nautical miles long.
Icebreaker A. Mikoyan in the Kara Sea
Many books and articles have been written about the transatlantic convoys that followed during the war across the North Atlantic to the ports of Soviet Russia. However, few people know that the caravans of transports went along the Northern Sea Route. For some reason, this important episode of the war is almost forgotten by Russian historians and writers.
August 14, 1942 Special Purpose Expedition (EON-18), consisting of 19 transports, three warships: the leader "Baku", the destroyers "Razumny" and "Enraged", accompanied by the icebreakers "A. Mikoyan "and" L. Kaganovich”, left the Providence Bay and headed west. By that time, Captain M. S. Sergeev left for Vladivostok, where he took over a battleship. The most experienced polar explorer Yuri Konstantinovich Khlebnikov was appointed to command the icebreaker. Due to the most difficult ice conditions, the convoy was moving slowly. In the Chukchi Sea, the flagship of the Arctic icebreaker fleet "I. Stalin" came to the aid of the caravan. With the help of three icebreakers on September 11, EON-18 managed to break through into the East Siberian Sea, where in the Ambarchik Bay the ships were waiting for replenishment of supplies and fuel. After a week of heroic efforts, the caravan arrived in Tiksi Bay, where the icebreaker Krasin joined them. In Tiksi, the ships had to delay, in the Kara Sea, the German battleship Admiral Scheer and several submarines began to carry out Operation Wunderland to search for and destroy EON-18. On September 19, announcing increased combat readiness on the ships, the caravan moved west in the direction of the Vilkitsky Strait. The Soviet sailors were ready for any surprises, they had already received a message about the heroic death of the icebreaking steamer "A. Sibiryakov". Fortunately, the meeting with the German raider and submarines was avoided.
After EON-18 was safely brought to clear water, the icebreaker "A. Mikoyan" again headed east, to Sharka, where another group of ships that left the Yenisei Gulf awaited him. Then the icebreaker made several more voyages to the Kara Sea, accompanying caravans and single ships that broke through to the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The navigation of the winter of 1942-43 was completed in mid-December, by which time Soviet icebreakers had navigated about 300 ships on ice routes. On December 21, the Mikoyan rounded Kanin Nos, and an entry appeared in the logbook: “We crossed 42 degrees east longitude”. At this geographical point, in fact, the ship's circumnavigation of the world, which began a year ago, has ended.
The vessel was sailing at full speed into the throat of the White Sea, skirting the low shores of Kolguev Island. Suddenly there was a strong explosion: the icebreaker hit a mine. In September 1942, the Nazis, annoyed by the unsuccessful raid of the Admiral Scheer, sent the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper to the Kara Sea and the surrounding areas, accompanied by four destroyers, who set several minefields. The icebreaker "A. Mikoyan" was blown up on one of them. The explosion distorted the entire stern of the ship, severely damaging the engine room, the steering engine was disabled, even the deck on the quarterdeck was swollen. However, the margin of safety inherent in the design of the ship bore fruit, the Mikoyan remained afloat, the shaft generators and propellers survived. A repair team was immediately organized from experienced shipbuilders who had worked on the construction of the icebreaker. The repairs were carried out right in the sea, among the ice. Finally, it was possible to set in motion, and the ship, driven by machines, independently arrived at the port of Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk). Every icebreaker was needed for the winter ice campaign in the White Sea. And the workers of the shipyard No. 402 did not disappoint. Applying case cementing, replacing cast parts with welded ones, they managed to make complex repairs in the shortest possible time. The icebreaker set out on a voyage again, ensuring the escort of caravans across the White Sea.
In order to finally eliminate the consequences of the explosion, a more complete repair was required. There was no large dock and technical facilities in the North of Soviet Russia at that time, and by agreement with the American side, with the beginning of navigation in the summer of 1943, “A. Mikoyan”went to a shipyard in America, in the city of Seattle. The icebreaker went to the east on its own, and even led a caravan of ships.
After the repairs, the linear icebreaker "A. Mikoyan" provided escort of ships in the Eastern sector of the Arctic, and after the war for 25 years it led caravans along the Northern Sea Route and in the harsh Far Eastern waters.
All four pre-war icebreakers of the same type have faithfully served the country for a long time. A. Mikoyan”,“Admiral Lazarev”(former“L. Kaganovich”) and“Admiral Makarov”(former“V. Molotov”) were excluded from the lists of the USSR icebreaker fleet in the late 60s. The Siberia, which underwent a deep modernization in 1958 in Vladivostok (the name was given to the flagship I. Stalin), was scrapped only in 1973.
