Sibir (1937 icebreaker)

The Sibir (from 1938 to 1956, the Iosef Stalin) was the first Soviet icebreaker built at a domestic shipyard.

Icebreaker I. Stalin on the USSR postage stamp (1940)
History
Soviet Union
Name
  • I. Stalin (19381956)
  • Sibir (19561973)
NamesakeJoseph Stalin
BuilderOrdzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad
Launched14 August 1937
In service1938
RenamedSibir, c.1956
FateBroken up, 1973
General characteristics
TypeIcebreaker
Tonnage4,866 GRT
Displacement11,000 long tons (11,177 t)
Length107 m (351 ft)
Beam23 m (75 ft)
Draught9.3 m (31 ft)
Propulsion
Speed15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Crew142
Armament(in World War II) three 76mm guns, seven 20mm AA guns
Aircraft carried(pre-World War II) three
Aviation facilities(post-World War II) helicopter deck
Notesall characteristics (except armament) come from[1]

Owing to many delays, it took over two years to finish. It was built at the Ordzhonikidze Yard in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) between 1937 and 1938.

The I. Stalin was the biggest icebreaker of the Soviet fleet at that time. In 1938 it reached the Arctic in its first expedition.

The I. Stalin freed the icebreaker Sedov on January 18, 1940, between Greenland and Svalbard after it had been drifting as a scientific Soviet polar station for a long time.

As part of the de-Stalinization of the USSR, the ship was renamed Sibir in 1956.

See also

References

Notes
  1. "JOSEPH STALIN / SIBIR". shipstamps.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012. from Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II
Bibliography


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