Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker collides with cargo ship in Arctic.
A Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker was damaged in a collision with a cargo ship in the Arctic Circle, according to Russian media reports.
According to experts, the icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy” (Fiftieth Anniversary of Victory) was trying to rescue the cargo ship “Yamal Krechet” from the ice, preventing it from reaching the port of Sabetta in the Kara Sea.
Why is this important?
According to the Navy’s executive body, the nuclear-powered icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy” is one of the only two remaining ships of the first generation of “Arctic” class icebreakers still in service. Its damage could prevent it from continuing to serve and disrupt Russia’s work in the Arctic.
“On the night of January 26, in harsh Arctic conditions, the icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy sustained damage to its left edge while breaking through ice in the Kara Sea. No one was injured. There was no loss of seaworthiness. There were no threats to life support systems and reactor units,” Russian state news agency TASS quoted Atomflot, the parent company of the nuclear-powered icebreaker, as saying.
The company added that the icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy” will continue to operate on the Northern Sea Route. Atomflot, part of Rosatom Group, operates the world’s only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.
Video of the ship collision went viral on social media, showing the nuclear-powered icebreaker approaching the bow of the cargo ship before ramming into the side of the Yamalkrecht port. The nuclear-powered icebreaker suffered damage to the port bow above the waterline.
Approached the port side of the 20,100-ton multipurpose ship Yamal Kreshit (built in 1999) in icy conditions and then collided with its stern. Photos of the icebreaker show that a large part of the bow hull area was torn off. “
“It seems that the 50 Let Pobedy was trying to rescue the Yamal Kreshet when the two ships collided between ports,” wrote naval historian Sal Mercogliano on X (formerly Twitter). ”
The 50th “Let Pobedy” was built by the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg and is 485.2 feet long and 98.1 feet wide. The nuclear-powered icebreaker, which can reach speeds of up to 20.8 knots in open waters, is one of six first-generation Arctic-class icebreakers built at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and was launched in 1993.
The Yamal Kreshte was sailing under the Russian flag and was heading to Sabetta, one of Russia’s largest Arctic ports, when the collision occurred. The ship is listed as a general cargo ship, 502.6 feet long and 77.4 feet wide.
What the character is saying
Anton Gerashchenko, former deputy interior minister of Ukraine, wrote in a post on X (original Twitter): “Russian media reported that on January 26, the Russian icebreaker 50th Anniversary Victory collided with a dry cargo ship in the Kara Sea. Russian media reported that the icebreaker had damage to its left hull, but promised that everything was normal. See the damage in the second photo. With the Ursa Mayor sunk, it will be very difficult to replace the relevant parts of the icebreaker’s nuclear reactor. Russia has almost no of these icebreakers
“Based on the timestamp and assuming this is UTC, the cargo ship Yamal Krechet, which was heading from Arkhangelsk to Sabetta, may have been stuck in the ice between Yuzhny Island and Vaygach,” wrote marine historian Sal Mercogliano. “This is where the ice is thin and icebreakers like the 50 Let Pobedy operate to rescue ships that are stuck and off course. It appears that the 50 Let Pobedy was working to rescue the Yamal Kresht when the two ships collided in the port. Given the gaps in the automatic identification system (coverage), the icebreaker had to turn back several times to reach its destination.”
What happens next
It is not clear whether the 50 Let Pobedy will need to be temporarily removed from service to make necessary repairs to the damage caused by the collision.
