The FSUE “Rosmorport” Murmansk Branch has celebrated the 35^th anniversary from the day of flag raising at Kapitan Dranitsyn icebreaker.

The diesel icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn was built at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki (Finland). On 2 December 1980 a USSR state flag was raised on the icebreaker.

The icebreaker was named after German Dranitsyn – an honored Polar worker and master of the Soviet Arctic fleet, who spent most of his life working in the Arctic region.  During the Great Patriotic war he escorted transport ships carrying military cargo in ice, delivered provisions and arms to polar stations. From 1948 he worked as master at different icebreakers. During 27 years of work he participated in more than 2 000 ice escorts. In particular, at his command for the first time a leading icebreaker and a convoy of ships passed the difficult Red Army Straits in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. German Dranitsyn is considered to be a father of tactics for large tonnage icebreaker movement in ice.

In 1999 after re-equipment the icebreaker received a passenger vessel certificate. From 2008 the icebreaker is managed by FSUE “Rosmorport”.

The icebreaker is designed for work in the Arctic seas, however, during her history she has made several polar round-the-world trips and a number of touristic and research voyages in the Arctic ocean. Besides, Kapitan Dranitsyn has participated in a few operations to deliver provisions to the Belgrano II Antarctic base, and in 2015 she helped to take off drifting ice the Norhtern-Pole-2015 expedition and deliver them to Murmansk Seaport.

Today Kapitan Dranitsyn is a unique diesel icebreaker with unlimited navigation range, which has a permission to transport passengers issued by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

The FSUE “Rosmorport” Murmansk Branch management celebrated the icebreaker’s master and crew and wished them good health, success in seafarer’s hard and sometimes dangerous work, and also to keep the highest professional level of all crew members in the future.

For information
Detailed characteristics of the icebreaker can be found in the section “Icebreaking services of the Murmansk Branch”.