The Viktor Chernomyrdin icebreaker has arrived in the area of the Kamennye Islands archipelago in the Kara Sea, where the first stage of ice trials of the vessel begins.

The Viktor Chernomyrdin left Murmansk for scheduled ice trials on May 1, 2022, and made the passage to the Kara Sea, rounding the Novaya Zemlya archipelago and passing Cape Zhelaniya.

The icebreaker approached the edge of the landfast ice fields between the Kamennye Islands and mainland Russia, east of Dickson, where representatives of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) and Krylov State Research Center (KSRC) landed on the ice to measure ice thickness and assess ice and snow cover for compliance with ice testing procedures for the new powerful diesel-electric icebreaker.

According to experts, the average ice thickness in the area of ice testing was 1.5-2 m, the height of snow was 0.4-0.7 m, and the height of hummocks was about 1 m.

A working meeting of FSUE “Rosmorport” representatives with specialists from AARI, KSRC, Admiralty Shipyards OJSC, Aurora NGO on the program and methodology of ice tests was held beforehand on the vessel.

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The Viktor Chernomyrdin is the flagship of the FSUE “Rosmorport” fleet, the largest non-nuclear icebreaker designed by Russian designers and laid at the domestic shipyard in the 21st century.

It has a propeller power of 25 MW, has an ice class of Icebreaker8, and is capable of speeds up to 17.8 knots in clear water. Autonomy of work is up to 60 days.

The Viktor Chernomyrdin icebreaker is able to move continuously in a continuous ice field up to 2 m thick, as well as perform icebreaking operations with ice thickness up to 3 m.