50 Let Pobedy

History
Russia
Name: 50 Let Pobedy (50 лет Победы)
Owner: Russian Federation
Operator: FSUE Atomflot
Port of registry: Murmansk,  Russia[1]
Builder: Baltic Shipyard
Yard number: 705
Laid down: 4 October 1989
Launched: 29 December 1993
Commissioned: 23 March 2007[2]
Maiden voyage: 2007
Identification:
Status: In active service
General characteristics [3]
Class and type: Arktika-class icebreaker
Tonnage:
Displacement: 25,168 tons
Length: 159.6 m (524 ft)
Beam: 30 m (98 ft)
Draught: 11 m (36 ft)
Depth: 17.2 m (56 ft)
Installed power: Two OK-900A nuclear reactors (2 × 171 MW)
Two steam turbogenerators (2 × 27.6 MW)
Propulsion: Nuclear-turbo-electric
Three shafts (3 × 18 MW)
Speed: 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph) (maximum)
Endurance: 7.5 months
Crew: 189
Aircraft carried: 1 × Mi-2, Mi-8 or Ka-27 helicopter
Aviation facilities: Helipad and hangar for one helicopter
50 Let Pobedy on a Russian stamp

NS 50 Let Pobedy (Russian: 50 лет Победы), translated as 50 Years of Victory or Fiftieth Anniversary of Victory (referring to victory of USSR over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War), is a Russian Arktika-class nuclear-powered icebreaker.

History

Construction on project no. 10521 started on October 4, 1989, at the Baltic Works in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR. Originally the ship was named NS Ural. Work was halted in 1994 for lack of funds, so that the actual fiftieth anniversary of Victory Day, in 1995, found the ship in an abandoned state. Construction was restarted in 2003.

On 30 November 2004, a fire broke out on the ship. All workers aboard the vessel had to be evacuated while the fire crews battled the fire for some 20 hours before getting it under control; one worker was sent to the hospital.

She was finally completed in the beginning of 2007, after the 60th Anniversary. The icebreaker sailed into the Gulf of Finland for two weeks of sea trials on February 1, 2007. Upon completing sea trials, the icebreaker returned to St. Petersburg Baltic shipyard and started preparations for her maiden voyage to Murmansk. The new ship showed superior characteristics for an icebreaker, such as exceptional maneuverability and a top speed of 21.4 knots (39.6 km/h; 24.6 mph).

She arrived at her homeport Murmansk on April 11, 2007.

The icebreaker is an upgrade of the Arktika class. The 159.60 m (524 ft) long and 30.0 m (98 ft) wide vessel, with a displacement of 25,840 metric tons, is designed to break through ice up to 5 metres (16 ft) thick. She has a crew of 140.[1][4][5][6][7][8]

Fiftieth Anniversary of Victory is also an experimental project; for the first time in the history of Russian icebreakers the design incorporated a spoon-shaped bow. As predicted by the ship's designers, such a shape increases the efficiency of the ship's efforts in breaking the ice. The icebreaker is equipped with an all-new digital automated control system. The biological shielding complex was heavily modernized and re-certified by the State Commission. A new ecological compartment was created.

The ship has an athletic/exercise facility, a swimming pool, a library, a restaurant, a massage facility, and a music salon at the crew's disposal.

A group of eclipse chasers have used the vessel to observe the eclipse of August 1, 2008. They departed from Murmansk on July 21, 2008, and reached the North Pole on July 25, 2008, which set a speed record for the ship (the trip lasted four days instead of seven).[9][10]

Arctic tourism

Since 1989 the nuclear-powered icebreakers have also been used for tourist purposes carrying passengers to the North Pole. Each participant pays up to US $45,000 for a cruise lasting two weeks.[11] The Fiftieth Anniversary of Victory contains an accommodation deck customised for tourists.

Quark Expeditions chartered the ship (which they name as 50 Years of Victory) for expeditions to the North Pole in 2008. The vessel's maiden voyage to the North Pole embarked in Murmansk, on June 24, 2008. The ship carried 128 guests in 64 cabins in five categories. 50 Years of Victory completed a total of three expeditions to the North Pole in 2008 for the polar adventure company.

As of February 2013, Quark Expeditions was listing 50 Years of Victory in the company fleet[12] and offering it for a North Pole cruise[13] as well as Russian cruise company Poseidon Expeditions.[14]

On July 30, 2013 50 Years of Victory reached the North Pole for the 100th time in the history of icebreaker navigation during one of Poseidon Expeditions cruises.[15]

In October 2013, the vessel carried the Olympic Flame to the North Pole, in the runup to the 2014 Winter Olympics[16]

In August 2017, the vessel set a new record for transit time to the North Pole, making the journey from Murmansk to the Pole in 79 hours, arriving at 02:33 AM on August 17, 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 "Russian Registry of Ships". Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Атомный ледокол "50 лет ПОБЕДЫ"". polarpost.ru. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Atomic Icebreakers Technical Data". rosatomflot.ru. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. ↑ Anastasia Yakonuk (February 26, 2007). "A ship called 'Fifty years after the victory'". Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  5. ↑ "Russia tests nuclear icebreaker on open sea". RIA Novosti. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  6. ↑ "Titans of the Upper Latitudes". Aeroflot in-flight magazine. 2006. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  7. ↑ "Russia to get new nuclear-powered icebreaker this year". Bellona.org. 1 March 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  8. ↑ "Quark Expeditions fleet information". Quark Expeditions. 2008-03-17. Archived from the original on 18 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  9. ↑ Franz Josef Land & Eclipse viewing off Novaya Zemlya On Board the Icebreaker: "50 years of victory" Archived 2010-05-18 at the Wayback Machine., TravelQuest International
  10. ↑ Nuclear-power icebreaker offers first passenger cruise to North Pole Archived July 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., Professional Mariner, journal of the maritime industry
  11. ↑ "ARC-NTH-14D2018: 2018-06-13". www.quarkexpeditions.com. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  12. ↑ "50 Years of Victory". Quark Expeditions. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "North Pole". Quark Expeditions. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "I/b 50 Years of Victory". Poseidon Expeditions. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "100th achievement of the North Pole". Poseidon Expeditions. July 31, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Den olympiske ild kom forbi Nordpolen". Maritime Denmark (in Danish). 27 October 2013.
  • 50 Years of Victory Ship Details from Quark Expeditions with detailed deck plans
  • Page dedicated to 50 Years of Victory on a website of Poseidon Expeditions containing numerous photos, description, deckplan and panoramas of cabins.
  • Video Of The Voyage To The North Pole on YouTube
  • "So malerisch ist der Nordpol". Die Welt (in German). Hamburg. 14 August 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
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