Yermak (1898 icebreaker)

The Ermak on a recording before 1917

The Russian Ermak (Russian Ермак, German transcription: Yermak Register Version Ermack to 1945 ) is considered one of the first true icebreaker.

The ship was built according to the plans of Admiral Stepan Makarov by Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle upon Tyne and ran on 29 October 1898 by stack. It was named after Yermak, the Russian explorer, Cossack Ataman and conqueror of Siberia, named. The ship was put into service in March 1899.

Already on its maiden voyage the ship reached in 1899 under the command of Mikhail Petrovich Vasileva the position 81 ° 21 ' N and sailed the waters around Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya.

During the Russo -Japanese War, the Ermak accompanied the fleet of Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatow to reach the Baltic Sea.

After the beginning of World War II, the icebreaker of the Baltic Fleet was assigned. On March 31, 1918, the Ermak got into a short skirmish with the Finnish troop transport Tarmo. This incident is considered the first battle of the Finnish Navy.

Between 1920 and 1930, the Ermak secured the ship traffic in the Baltic Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea. In February 1938, the ship to rescue the researchers at the polar station North Pole-1 ran out. On August 28, 1938, succeeded the Ermak to the trapped in pack ice ships Georgi Sedov, Sadko and Malygin push forward and they freizubrechen from the pack ice.

After several operations during the Second World War, the Ermak was converted in June 1944 and re-used on the Northeast Passage. On March 26, 1949, the Ermak was the occasion of their 50-year service awarded the Order of Lenin. 1964, the ship was finally decommissioned.