This unusual vessel - "Earl Gray" - was built in 1909 at the British shipyard "Vickers" to the Canadians - to work at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and the bay of the same name. Outwardly, it, with a graceful stem crowned with a bowsprit, a slightly inclined high chimney and an elongated superstructure, rather resembled a large steam yacht. By the way, it had the apartments of the Governor-General of Canada, cabins for 55 passengers, 1st class and 20 - 2nd. The vessel was supposed to be used for transporting mail and people, protecting fisheries, etc.
The steamer belonged to the category of icebreakers, but was very different from them. Whereas the ratio of the length of the hull to the width is 3, 5 - 4, 5 - short and wide, they maneuver much better in waters under their patronage, then with Earl Gray it reached 5, 5. The bow of the icebreakers above the waterline is usually straight, and below - beveled at a large angle. This shape of the hull allows them not only to ram the ice with frontal blows, but also to crawl onto it in order to push with their own weight. Earl Gray's bow with 31 mm plating was pointed, the sides were straight, so the ship cut the ice, pushing the wreckage to the sides. The icebreaker was not intended and was not suitable for the fight against strong, perennial polar ice, and it remained the only example of its class in the world icebreaker fleet.
At the beginning of World War I, Russia bought several icebreaking ships abroad, including the Earl Gray. It was renamed "Canada" and transferred to the disposal of the Department of Maritime Transport of the Belomorsko-Murmansk region. Already in November 1914, the icebreaker began to escort Russian and allied transports with military supplies through the freezing White Sea to Arkhangelsk. January 9, 1917 "Canada" was unlucky, she came across an underwater rock not marked on the map and sank in the Yokangi roadstead. On June 16, she was raised and sent for repairs, and on October 26 she was armed and enlisted in the Arctic Ocean flotilla.
In January 1918, Canada was demobilized. During the civil war, it was captured by the British interventionists and handed over to the White Guards. In March 1920, both of them hastily left the Russian North, taking a number of Russian ships. But not "Kanada" - staffed by the red military men, she tried to prevent this and entered into a firefight with the departing "Kozma Minin". This is how the first and so far the only artillery battle of icebreakers in the Arctic Circle took place.
In April 1920, "Canada" became an auxiliary cruiser of the Red White Sea flotilla, and a month later received the third name "III International". The ice cutter had a chance to take part in the rescue of the white steamer "Solovey Budimirovich" (later "Malygin"), covered with ice in the Kara Sea - its passengers and crew were on the verge of death from cold and hunger
Only in June 1921 the "III International" was returned to Mortrans, and there it was renamed again on July 12, this time in honor of the famous navigator and geographer, president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Admiral FP Litke (1797-1882). Designed to overcome weak or broken ice, the ship conscientiously worked in the Arctic, escorting caravans, servicing industries and stations, then in the Baltic and the Black Sea, in 1929 she returned to the Arctic, made a risky trip to Wrangel Island and was awarded the Order of Labor Of the Red Banner. And in the winter of 1931confirmed its reputation - despite extremely difficult conditions, led the caravan to the Sea of Okhotsk. Largely thanks to his captain N. M. Nikolaev, who even before the revolution graduated from the Marine Corps and from 1917 served in the North, in particular, on the icebreaker Stepan Makarov, gaining considerable experience.
In 1932 - 1933. The Litke turned into an expedition ship, and the scientists who worked on the program of the 2nd International Year of the Arctic settled on it.
The ice cutter also had a chance to take part in the "Chelyuskin" epic. Damage to the hull and mechanisms did not allow it to pass through the ice of the Chukchi Sea in order to bring the worn-out steamer to clean water, which, unlike the Sibiryakov, was not destined to pass the Northern Sea Route from west to east in one navigation.
On June 28, 1934, the Litke left Vladivostok and headed north. On board were members of the expedition, headed by Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences V. Yu. Vize. The ice cutter slowly, methodically overcame the Northern Sea Route, having at the same time rescued merchant ships stuck near Taimyr and worked with Fr. Dixon, providing the movement of caravans with national economic goods. On September 20, Litke moored in Murmansk, leaving 6,000 miles astern, including 1,600 in ice. The government telegram, sent to Nikolaev and Vize, said: “Warmly congratulations and greetings to the participants of the expedition of the ice cutter“F. Litke”, for the first time in the history of Arctic voyages completed a through voyage from the Far East to the west in one navigation. The successes of the expedition “F. Litke "testify to the lasting conquest of the Arctic by Soviet sailors." Many years later, polar explorer Z. M. Kanevsky emphasized a very important circumstance: "This voyage can be considered exemplary, it was superbly organized, carried out accurately, flawlessly, with the use of all the best that science and technology had at their disposal." Numerous fights with ice were not in vain - the ice cutter had to be immediately put into a thorough repair. On the other hand, the following year, the usual steamships Vanzetti and Iskra sailed along the Northern Sea Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok, and the Anadyr and Stalingrad were on a collision course.
In 1936, Litke again distinguished itself - together with the icebreaking steamer Anadyr, she led the destroyers Stalin and Voikov along the coast of Siberia, sent from the Baltic to reinforce the Pacific Fleet. A participant in that operation, senior mate of the Anadyr captain AM Matiyasevich (in the Great Patriotic War he commanded the Baltic submarine Lembit) recalled: “Litke overcame individual ice accumulations on the move, followed by Anadyr, widening the passage, then destroyers and trailing tankers. For the first time in the history of navigation, warships passed the Northern Sea Route from the Barents Sea to the Bering Sea, rounding Cape Dezhnev."
The next year, the ice cutter was unlucky - accompanying 5 transports, he fell into heavy ice with them, and could not get out. The powerful icebreaker "Ermak" came to the rescue. And again caravan escorts, trips to polar stations.
In 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war began. In January 1940, the Litke was turned into a patrol ship of the Northern Fleet, in which capacity it remained until April 8, after which it was demobilized and returned to the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route Administration. But, as it turned out, not for long. On July 25, 1941, the ship was once again called into service, the naval flag was raised on it, two 45-mm cannons and several machine guns were installed, assigning the next designation SKR-18 (patrol ship). Soon, the armament was recognized as insufficient and the forty-fives were replaced with 130-mm guns.
In August, the patrol ship was included in the newly formed Northern Detachment of the White Sea Flotilla, which was to guard the Novo-Zemlya straits. However, it soon became clear that German warships (except for submarines) did not risk appearing in these waters, and the SKR-18 was sent to do direct business - to drive caravans from the White Sea to the Kara Sea and back. Several times the old icebreaker carried out purely combat missions, for example, in January 1942 it escorted the damaged new linear icebreaker I. Stalin . And on August 20, he himself was attacked by an enemy submarine U-456, but managed to avoid torpedoes. It was known that enemy pilots and submariners persistently hunted for Soviet icebreakers, without which normal transportation of strategic cargo across the polar seas would have been impossible. Nevertheless, during the entire war, the Germans did not manage to not only sink, but also permanently disable a single icebreaker.
By February 1944, the Northern Fleet was replenished with combat ships of domestic construction and received from the Allies, the need for improvised minesweepers and patrol boats began to disappear. "Litke" was transferred to the operational subordination of the Main Directorate of the Administration of the Northern Sea Route.
The war ended, and the ice cutter resumed his usual work - escorting caravans and individual ships. And in 1946 an expedition set off on it on a high-latitude voyage, two years later a similar voyage was repeated - opportunities were sought to launch transport ships along the so-called “Great Northern Polynya”.
In 1955, participating in another research venture organized by the Arctic Institute, he ascended to 83 ° 21 'north latitude, setting a record for free swimming in the Arctic Ocean, not reaching only 440 miles (810 km) to the North Pole. This achievement, years later, was surpassed only by huge icebreakers equipped with nuclear power plants.
November 14, 1958 "Litke", as completely obsolete, was taken out of service and after a while scrapped. At that time, his fate was shared by other famous veterans of the Arctic - the Makarov icebreaker "Ermak", the icebreaking ships "Georgy Sedov", "Dezhnev", and others who did a lot to make the Northern Sea Route turn into a normally functioning transport highway.
