Sibir (1937 icebreaker)

This article is about the 1937 icebreaker. For other icebreakers of the same name, see Sibir (icebreaker).

"Icebreaker Joseph Stalin" redirects here. For the steamer with the same name, see Steamer Tovarishch Stalin.

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 (1938–1956) Sibir (1956–1973)
Namesake	Joseph Stalin
Builder	Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad
Launched	14 August 1937
In service	1938
Renamed	Sibir, c.1956
Fate	Broken up, 1973
General characteristics
Type	Icebreaker
Tonnage	4,866 GRT
Displacement	11,000 long tons (11,177 t)
Length	107 m (351 ft)
Beam	23 m (75 ft)
Draught	9.3 m (31 ft)
Propulsion	3 × triple expansion steam engines, 10,050 hp (7.49 MW) Coal-fired boilers 3 stern and 1 bow propellers Diesel electric engines for cruising
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Crew	142
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
Notes	all characteristics (except armament) come from

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

• Konstantin Badygin

References

Notes

Bibliography

• History of Russian Arctic Exploration