The
head icebreaker of Project 21180, the Ilya Muromets, was laid down for
Russia’s Navy at St. Petersburg’s Admiralteiskiye Verfi
shipyard. The diesel-and electric-powered icebreaker is being built
for the Northern Fleet to provide support for coastal and island bases
and airfields in the Arctic and to escort vessels through ice up to
80 cm thick. It is to be commissioned in 2017. |
The Ilya
Muromets will have a displacement of 6,000 metric tons. It will be capable
of making a two-month autonomous voyage to a distance of up to 12,000
nautical miles with a crew of 32.
"Construction of an icebreaker for the Navy for the first time
in 45 years is a breakthrough in the sphere of naval shipbuilding,"
Russian Navy Commander Viktor Chirkov said Thursday.
"It is distinguished by maneuverability, multi-functionality and
a totally new principle of electric propulsion. All supply vessels that
will be built in the near future for Russia’s Navy will be vessels
of the new type," he said.
"Following construction and tests, a decision will be made regarding
the construction of new icebreakers. These will not necessarily be identical
ships, the project could be modified," the Russian Defense Ministry’s
state defense order department head Andrey Vernigora said.
Admiralteiskiye Verfi Director General Alexander Buzakov noted that
when the contract was being drafted, "the talk was about the construction
of four ships." |
