In the early thirties, it became clear that the scale of research work unfolding in the Arctic and the number of transport vessels being carried out, especially to such distant regions of the Northern Sea Route as the mouths of the Lena and Kolyma, require powerful icebreakers. In fact, there were only two such icebreakers in our country at that time - "Krasin" and "Ermak", only they had rather powerful three-screw power plants. After the end of the Lena expedition, the crew of the icebreaker "Krasin" supported the propaganda of the construction of a powerful Arctic icebreaker fleet, which was unfolding at that time by the mass media. The Krasin people not only called for the construction of such icebreakers, but also suggested organizing a wide campaign to promote the construction, start collecting proposals on the characteristics of icebreakers, and take over the construction. Further developments also took place in the spirit of the time when the country was trying to combine state planning and initiative "from below". On December 9, 1933, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Water Transport Workers created a "Commission for Mass Assistance to the Construction of Arctic Icebreakers", and the newspaper "Water Transport" began to print letters with wishes of what an icebreaker should be for the Arctic, including proposals from such well-known Arctic captains, as M. Ya. Sorokin and N. M. Nikolaev.
In December 1933, the Krasin arrived in Leningrad, where it was supposed to be repaired to prepare for navigation next year. But the events in the Arctic in February 1934 drastically changed these plans. Almost at the entrance to the Bering Strait, the icebreaking steamer Chelyuskin sank, and extensive rescue operations began to remove its crew and expeditionary personnel from the drifting ice. On February 14, by a special decision of the government commission chaired by V. V. Kuibyshev "Krasin" was ordered to urgently go to the Far East to help the Chelyuskinites. In this regard, the repair of the icebreaker and its preparation for leaving Leningrad were entrusted to the Baltic and Kronstadt factories. The workers of these enterprises managed to do a huge amount of work in a month, and on March 23 the icebreaker left Leningrad, heading across the Atlantic and the Panama Canal to the Far East.
On the instructions of Glavsevmorput, Sudoproekt began developing two projects of icebreakers for the Arctic: with a steam plant with an indicator capacity of 10 thousand hp, or 7353 kW (according to the Krasin prototype), and a diesel-electric one with a capacity of 12 thousand hp. (8824 kW).
At the stage of preliminary design, projects were discussed in June 1934 at a special meeting in the Council of People's Commissars. Although academician A. N. Krylov and pointed out the premature construction of diesel-electric icebreakers, the meeting recommended building icebreakers for both projects. The government assigned this task to the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry. However, due to the large shipbuilding program and the difficulties in supplying component equipment, the construction of icebreakers with diesel-electric installations had to be abandoned later. It was envisaged to build a series of four steam icebreakers: two each at the Baltic and Black Sea plants.
The government's decision to build these ships was also influenced by scientists working in the field of icebreaking. Articles by A. N. Krylova, Yu. A. Shimansky, L. M. Nogida, I. V. Vinogradov and others. The technical project (chief designer KK Bokhanevich) was carried out by the Sudoproekt team, working drawings were created by the design bureau of the Baltic plant; such experienced designers as V. G. Chilikin, V. Ashik, A. S. Barsukov, V. I. Neganov, L. V. Tageev. At the same time, the issues of choosing the limiting power and its distribution by screws, the strength of propeller shafts and screws, the use of alternating current, the development of typical hull structures, recommendations on the completeness factors, the shape and contours of the hull were investigated. Crepe and trim systems were developed. A list of auxiliary mechanisms that the domestic industry could supply was compiled, the designs of steam and turbodynamo for power plants were tested. Working drawings of steam engines with a capacity of 3300 liters. with., to accelerate the construction, purchased from the English firm "Armstrong", at one time building "Ermak". The project was numbered 51. The lead ship, laid down at the Baltic Shipyard, received the sonorous name “I. Stalin”, later in 1958 it was renamed“Siberia”. The next ships of the series were "V. Molotov "(" Admiral Makarov "), also built in Leningrad, then" L. Kaganovich "(" Admiral Lazarev ") and" A. Mikoyan "built in Nikolaev.
The project of icebreakers provided for the following provisions: increase in autonomy due to a decrease in specific fuel consumption as a result of steam overheating, heating of boiler feed water; preservation of the icebreaking properties of the vessel at full draft (with maximum fuel reserves of 3000 tons) due to changes in the bow end (Krasin, with full reserves, partially lost its icebreaking capabilities); welded assemblies were introduced into some hull structures; instead of steam-driven cargo cranes, electric ones were installed, for which the capacity of the ship's power plant was increased, a turbodynamo was envisaged, which was an innovation in icebreaking, waterproof bulkheads between the engine and boiler rooms were equipped with electrically driven clinket doors controlled from both local and central posts (at "Krasin" communication between the compartments was carried out through the living deck); significant improvement of the crew's living conditions: accommodation in four-, two- and single cabins; the creation of a laboratory for scientists on the upper deck, etc. The complex shape of the hull, thick sheathing sheets, individual large-sized parts, a large number of residential and office premises - all this created significant difficulties in the construction of icebreakers, forcing in a very short time to significantly improve the organization and shipbuilding technology.
Here are the main design characteristics of the icebreakers of Project 51: length 106, 6, width 23, 12, depth 11, 64, draft 7, 9-9, 04 m, displacement 11 thousand tons, speed in clear water 15, 5 knots, a team of 142 people, the power plant consisted of nine reverse-type fire tube boilers (steam pressure 15.5 kg / sq. cm), fired with coal, and three steam engines with a total capacity of 10 thousand liters. with., the rotational speed of the propeller shafts 125 rpm (three screws with a diameter of 4100 mm each had a pitch of 4050 mm); the power plant with a constant voltage of 220V consisted of two turbine generators with a capacity of 100 kW, a parodynamo with a capacity of 25 kW, emergency diesel generators of 12 and 5 kW. The loading devices included two winches with a total lifting capacity of 4 tons, two booms with a total lifting capacity of 15 tons; two electric cargo cranes 15 t each and four cranes 3 t each; provided for very powerful fire-fighting and drainage means.
The power plant of the icebreaker was significantly different from the installations of transport ships, on which the design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard had been working before. Three large machines located in two engine rooms, a significant number of auxiliary mechanisms, four boiler rooms, a complex piping system - all this created difficulties in placement and layout. At the same time, it should be noted that our designers did not have sufficient experience in designing power plants for icebreakers; something had to be done on the basis of actual data on the prototype (for example, the diameter of the air pipes of ballast, trim and heel tanks was chosen). The question of chimneys was not immediately resolved either: the Balts conceived to make them straight, like those of Ermak, but the designers of the Black Sea plant, having received drawings from Leningrad, gave the chimneys a slope like that of Krasin. Later, the sailors unmistakably distinguished the icebreakers built by the Baltic and Chernomorsky factories through the pipes.
By the summer of 1935, the construction was unfolding on a wide front at both enterprises: a plaza breakdown of the hull was underway, keel sheets, bottom plates, templates were prepared, technological equipment and accessories were manufactured, sheet and section metal began to arrive at the warehouses. On October 23 of the same year, both ships were officially laid down at the Baltic Shipyard (chief builder G. A. Kuish), and a month later - the first icebreaker on the Black Sea. In Leningrad, the head of Glavsevmorput O. Yu. Schmidt, N. I. Podvoisky, professor R. L. Samoilovich. In the keels of the icebreakers, silver mortgages were laid with the emblem of the USSR engraved on them and the slogan "Workers of all countries, unite!"
For the Black Sea residents, the construction of icebreakers turned out to be especially difficult, since before that they had built motor tankers, having mastered the installation, debugging and testing of diesel engines in detail. The skills of manufacturing, assembling and installing steam engines, steam auxiliary mechanisms and fire tube boilers were largely lost. The korpusniki also experienced difficulties, who had to deal with thick sheets, adjust and rivet double skin with a total thickness of up to 42 mm. Strict requirements were imposed on the tests of compartments for water resistance. Interruptions in the supply of sheet material affected the timing of construction. With the planned 25% technical readiness on January 1, 1936, the actual was only 10%. The Balts did better from the very beginning, as they had experience in repairing icebreakers, which helped them in icebreaker construction. But they too had to face great difficulties in carrying out the slipway work; the reason was the complex contours and configuration of the rods, the reinforced set in the bow. The body was assembled in the old fashioned way (not by the sectional method), so a lot of work was spent on the manufacture of templates and frames, "hot" fitting of sheets and a set. The coordination of the body sheets with the stern and stem, as well as work on the shaft fillets turned out to be especially laborious. The installation of double cladding was a great difficulty, which, due to the lack of one sheet of the required thickness, was carried out along the entire ice belt from two sheets. Fitting sheets of complex configuration with a thickness of 20-22 mm "one-to-one" without a gap can truly be called a piece of jewelry. To fill the possible voids between the sheets of double cladding, minium douching was used.
The process of manufacturing and assembling the main steam engines was also accompanied by considerable difficulties. On bench tests in Leningrad, the main machine developed an indicator power of 4000 liters. with. Based on the experience accumulated by the Baltic, at the Black Sea plant, it was possible to immediately install the machines on the ship after assembly.
On April 29, 1937 Nikolaevtsy launched the first icebreaker, Leningraders - in August of the same year. During the descent, braking with chain dredges was used, as well as paraffin packing, proposed by the well-known specialist in launching ships D. N. Zagaykevich.
On the first Black Sea icebreaker, later named "Lazar Kaganovich", the final stage of completion began. A well-chosen and carefully selected crew (captain - the famous polar sailor N. M. Nikolaev, senior assistant - A. I. Vetrov) took an active part in preparing the mechanisms for delivery, in mooring and resource tests. The sailors needed to better study the technique, since immediately after the acceptance of the vessel, they had to make the transition from the Black Sea to the Far East, through the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. The experience of operating the icebreaker "Krasin" made it possible to introduce a number of innovations to control and facilitate the management of the machine-boiler plant. At the control panel of the on-board vehicles, a central mechanic's post was equipped with instrumentation from all vehicles, as well as a central control panel for controlling the temperature of the flue gases of boilers, which made it possible to equalize their load.
In August-September 1938, sea trials of an icebreaker built in Nikolaev were carried out near Chersonesos and Cape Fiolent. With a draft of 7, 9 m and full revolutions of the machines, the continuous power was 9506 hp. with. (6990 kW), and the speed is 15, 58 knots. Specific fuel consumption ranged from 0.97 to 1.85 kg / l. with. (1, 32-2, 5 kg / kW). The calculation of the boiler plant revealed the overestimation by the designers of the quality of the coal used in the fleet in those years. The steam in the boilers was “difficult to keep”, the tension of the grate, to obtain the required amount of steam, turned out to be excessive.
After a thorough revision of the mechanisms, at the end of December 1938, a control exit of the first icebreaker of the Black Sea shipbuilders took place. January 11, 1939. The government commission chaired by the famous polar explorer E. T. Krenkela began acceptance of the vessel. On February 3, 1939, the acceptance act was signed, and preparations began for the launch of Lazar Kaganovich to the Far East. The crossing of tens of thousands of miles, immediately after surrender, turned out to be an ordeal, however, both the ship and the crew successfully passed it. In March, "Lazar Kaganovich" began intensive work in the Far Eastern waters: the steamer "Turkmen" was brought out of ice jams in the La Perouse Strait, in April it first opened such an early navigation in the Sea of Okhotsk, in June it entered Arctic navigation as the flagship icebreaker of the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route … The arrival of a powerful Russian Arctic icebreaker to the Far East was a decisive factor in fulfilling the significantly increased plans for the delivery of Arctic cargo along the entire route of the eastern sector and ensuring the pilotage of a large number of transport ships in ice.
In September 1939, in the port of Pevek, there was a meeting of the icebreaker I. Stalin "with the icebreaker" Lazar Kaganovich "built by the Black Sea plant. The results of the trouble-free passage by the southern route to Vladivostok and further work testified to the high reliability of the equipment and hull built in Nikolaev for the icebreaker. When summing up the results of the Arctic navigation in 1939, its crew was highly appreciated by the leadership of the Northern Sea Route.
In 1941, the rest of the icebreakers entered service: the nikolayevets surrendered the icebreaker "Anastas Mikoyan", and the Leningraders - "V. Molotov ". The latter, after a series of escorts to Kronstadt, remained in besieged Leningrad, and "Anastas Mikoyan" under the command of Comrade Sergeev in December 1941 left the port of Poti and, in wartime, made a heroic voyage through the Bosphorus, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, around the Capes of Good Hope and Horn, across the Pacific Ocean; Arriving in the middle of August in Provideniya Bay, he began ice escorts in the eastern sector of the Arctic. During the Great Patriotic War, the great importance of the Northern Sea Route as a vital transport route of our country was confirmed. It is difficult to imagine the development of events in the North, if by the beginning of the war our Arctic icebreaker fleet had not been replenished with four powerful icebreakers.
The construction and commissioning of such complex in terms of design and manufacturing technology, objects saturated with technical means, such as Arctic icebreakers, was a major success of the domestic shipbuilding industry in the pre-war years. And 20 years after the start of the construction of steam icebreakers, taking full advantage of the experience gained during their construction and operation, the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin", the first-born of the world nuclear icebreaker, was launched.
