Lenin (icebreaker)

Icebreaker Lenin, built at Newcastle upon Tyne and completed in June 1917, was the largest Russian icebreaker of her time. Her design was supervised by Russian naval architect and author Yevgeny Zamyatin.cite web |url=http://www.myersnorth.co.uk/zamyatin.html |title=Zamyatin in Newcastle |accessdate=2007-05-11 |last=Myers |first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Myers (translator) |quote= (updates articles by Myers published in "Slavonic and East European Review")] This icebreaker was named St. Alexander Nevsky when it came out of the docks after Russian statesman and military hero Alexander Nevsky.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 the icebreaker "St. Alexander Nevsky" was renamed icebreaker "Lenin", after the leader of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Ilich Ulianov "Lenin".

Otto Sverdrup’s fourth and last expedition in Arctic Siberian waters was in 1921, when, from the bridge of the Soviet Icebreaker Lenin, he commanded a convoy of five cargo ships on an experimental run through the Kara Sea to the mouths of the Ob and Yenisei. The ships reached their destinations and returned safely. This was considered an important step in the development of the Kara Sea sector of the Northern Sea Route.

In 1937 icebreaker "Lenin" was trapped in ice. She and her convoy of five ships spent an enforced winter in the Laptev Sea. They were finally rescued by icebreaker "Krasin" in August 1938. [cite journal |last=Barr |first=William |authorlink=William Barr (Arctic historian) |year=1980 |month=March |title=The Drift of "Lenin"'s Convoy in the Laptev Sea, 1937-1938 |journal=Arctic |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=3–20 |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic33-1-3.pdf |accessdate=2008-07-26]

During World War II the "Lenin" took part in Russian convoys in the Arctic. In 1942 the "Lenin" was spotted at the Mona Islands in the Kara Sea by a Kriegsmarine plane during Operation Wunderland. Heavy cruiser "Admiral Scheer" rushed to find it, but bad weather, fog, and ice saved icebreaker "Lenin" from destruction.Fact|date=July 2008

The "Lenin" continued in service during the Cold War, but in 1960, when a newly-built nuclear-powered icebreaker was also named Lenin, she was renamed "Vladimir Ilich".

In popular fiction

In his dystopian novel "We", Zamyatin refers to the specifications of "St. Alexander Nevsky" in the names of some of his characters.

References

* T. C. Fairley, "Sverdrup’s Arctic Adventures". London 1959.