U.S. Arctic Prospects Ride on New Icebreakers: David Fairhall

With all due respect to its often indispensable qualities, the icebreaker is something of a maritime freak. Few would consider it an ideal of sea-going beauty, with its strange sawn-off bow, top-heavy superstructure and tendency to roll and slam. It backs and charges and crunches its way through heavy ice. Yet from the deck of a vessel trapped in the ice, awaiting rescue, it must be a wonderful sight. And without its help, operations in the Arctic would be impossible.

Americans lay claim to the first steam-powered icebreaker, Philadelphia’s City Ice Boat No. 1, built in 1837 to clear the harbor. But the first recorded Russian vessel was the converted tug Pilot, used by a merchant in 1864 to clear a passage across the frozen bay between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. The first true sea-going icebreaker did not appear until the end of the 19th century. Built at Armstrong-Whitworth’s yard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in Britain, the Yermak was a bulbous 5,000 tonner with tall smokestacks and steam-reciprocating engines that delivered 10,000 horsepower. The British shipbuilders did an excellent job; the ship was still in service more than 60 years later.