Arctic / Polar matters (merged thread)

[AdamG]

RUSSIA’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom plans take control of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in the Arctic Ocean using a fleet of modern icebreakers to guarantee year-round shipping across the key trade artery. Moscow believes opening up the route permanently would half sailing times between Europe and Asia and but the waterway could become a political flashpoint with other global shipping companies vying for position in the icy northern region as shipping on the NSR continues to boom. More than 10 million tons of goods were shipped on the route in 2017 and figures for this year indicate a year-on-year increase of as much as 80 percent.

Mr Kulinko [Rosatom's head of the NSR development department] said Russia would be operating 11 nuclear-powered icebreakers by 2035.

He told a conference in St Petersburg: "We expect that the Arctic icebreaker fleet will include five multirole nuclear-power icebreakers with a rated capacity of 60 megawatt each, three Leader-class icebreakers, four gas-motor fuel icebreakers with a rated capacity of up to 40 megawatt, plus the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker, which will reached the end of its service life by 2039.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...ed-icebreakers

Two new plot twists.

ST. PETERSBURG, December 12. /TASS/. A solemn ceremony was held at the Almaz Shipyard in St. Petersburg to lay down the Project 21180M icebreaker Yevpatiy Kolovrat for the Russian Navy, TASS reports from the scene.

After the icebreaker is delivered to the Navy, it will operate in the Russian Far East, Yepifanov said. "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky will be its home port."

Project 21180
Project 21180 vessels are Russian-made next-generation diesel-electric icebreakers of the support fleet. The Yevpatiy Kolovrat developed by the Nizhny Novgorod-based Vympel Design Bureau will be 82 meters long, 19 meters wide and will have a draft of 4.6 meters. The icebreaker will be able to develop a maximum speed of 14 knots and displace 4,080 tonnes of water. The vessel will have a crew of 28.

The icebreaker is designed to lead Russian naval ships and vessels, and also tow and deliver cargoes to remote bases, render assistance to ships in distress in ice conditions. It will be capable of breaking an ice field of 1 meter thick at a speed of two knots. The icebreaker will have an operating range of 7,600 miles.

The Yevpatiy Kolovrat is being built under the modernized ‘lightened’ Project 21180M. It is distinguished by the reduced size of the hull and the small draft. This series of icebreakers will get the most advanced Zaliv-LK-21180 automated control system.

http://tass.com/economy/1035715

The large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast on June 11, 2015 and floated out on May 25 this year. By the Navy’s decision, this series will consist of only two warships: the lead ship Ivan Gren, which has been under construction for over 20 years due to the Project’s numerous adjustments and the first serial-produced (the second-built) large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov.

Project 11711 warships displace about 6,000 tonnes and are the largest surface combatants built to date. The previous Project 1171 ‘Tapir’ large amphibious assault ship displaces 4,300 tonnes and the most numerous ships of this class in the Russian Navy (Project 775) have a displacement of 4,400 tonnes.

http://tass.com/defense/1032678