In November, I went on an excursion on the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", which is permanently moored in Murmansk.
As befits "Lenin", this is the grandfather among icebreakers (he recently turned 61 years old) and the world's first surface ship with a nuclear power plant - before it there were only submarines.
Since 1959, the icebreaker was assigned to the Murmansk Shipping Company and served the Northern Sea Route, guiding other ships along it.
"Lenin" served for 30 years, and in 1989 it was taken out of service and turned into a museum. Now the nuclear-powered icebreaker is moored at the Murmansk Marine Station, and you can go there on an excursion. Entrance ticket costs 500 rubles, you can order excursion service in Russian (1000 rubles) or in English (1500 rubles).
This is the wardroom. If you didn't know, this is a room on a ship where the whole crew can gather for lunch, get-togethers, etc. And in the case of the icebreaker "Lenin", apparently, there was also political information for two minutes of hatred. 
The interior of the icebreaker is distinguished by an abundance of wood. As the guide said, this is an unprecedented case in the navy, and expensive types of wood were used - mahogany, bird's eye maple, ash and walnut. 
The world's first nuclear icebreaker was supposed to become a new symbol of the Soviet state, and its creators also took care of the interior. On an icebreaker in Soviet era Yuri Gagarin, Fidel Castro and other honored guests visited. 
By the way, for 60 years there has not been a single reconstruction or restoration on the icebreaker; almost everything has been preserved in its original form. Only in some places they installed modern screens. 
Modern icebreakers go to the North Pole quite often. It was first reached by the Soviet nuclear icebreaker Arktika on August 17, 1977. Since then, Russian icebreakers have visited the Pole 117 times, while icebreakers from all other countries have visited the North Pole only 11 times. 
Why do our icebreakers go to the North Pole so often? It turns out that these are mainly tourist cruises that have been operating since 1990. Ice swimming costs approximately $30,000 (2.08 million rubles).
By the way, renting an icebreaker costs approximately 65-70 thousand dollars per day. That is, in theory, if you are a millionaire, you can rent an entire icebreaker to, for example, arrange a wedding at the North Pole. There are two travel agencies operating the flights, Russian and American. From each cruise they receive approximately $9 million in income (before deducting rental costs and other components).
On the right in the corner you can see the Olympic torch, which was presented to the sailors by the Olympic Committee. 
View of nuclear reactors (there are two of them on the icebreaker) 
One of the turbines 
If the officers usually dined in the wardroom, then the rest of the sailors and various seconded people - in the dining room. 
There are 85 seats, but in the first years of operation there were so many people on board that food had to be organized in three streams. And in the navy they feed you 4 times a day! That is, the canteen was used 12 shifts per day. 
And in the evening the dining room turned into a cinema hall. On the sides of the screen you can see windows from where ready-made meals were served on trays, and waitresses (!) carried them around the hall. Women also served on the icebreaker - according to the guide, up to 1/5 of the crew. 
This room is called PEZh - energy and vitality post. This is the control center for all icebreaker movement systems and monitoring them. 
Two nuclear reactor operators were constantly on duty here. 
In addition, the operator responsible for the electric propulsion systems, the radiation safety control operator (there are 300 control points on the ship) and the shift supervisor worked in this room. These 5 people ensured the operation of the icebreaker around the clock. 
At the end of the 50s, the Americans, in parallel with the USSR, built their first civilian nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Savannah. To save time and overtake the United States, Soviet designers used on the icebreaker Lenin solutions used on the nuclear submarine Leninsky Komsomol (K-3). For example, the entire control module was taken from there. 
Deck view 
The glass on the icebreaker is very heavy and durable; they had to withstand the shock wave from nuclear explosion. By the way, once an icebreaker got into such a wave when in 1961 the USSR tested the thermonuclear “Tsar Bomb” on Novaya Zemlya.
Navigation bridge 
There is a wheelhouse, a chart room, and a radio room. 
On modern icebreakers, radio communications are no longer used; everything has been replaced by a computer. And now amateurs come to Lenin, using its equipment to organize radio communication sessions with the whole world. 
The icebreaker was controlled using a real steering wheel! 
The helmsman had to be able to dampen the inertia of 20,000 tons of metal and maintain a given course, which is quite difficult.
Well, these three levers are needed for maneuvers. If you maneuver incorrectly in the Arctic, you can even lose a ship, which will simply be crushed by ice. As sailors say, “the straightest road in the Arctic is a crooked one.” 
Captain's cabin 
Here the captain held meetings on voyages. 
The second half of the twentieth century in the world was marked by a scientific and technological revolution, which also affected shipbuilding. Steam power was replaced by diesel power, and then scientists and engineers started thinking about using nuclear energy. One of the promising areas of its application was the construction of icebreakers - nuclear energy made it possible to achieve unlimited autonomy with ultra-low fuel consumption.
The world's first nuclear icebreaker was created in the USSR. The project was developed in 1953-1955 at the Central Design Bureau. The chief designer was the shipbuilder Vasily Neganov, who also participated in the construction of the icebreakers I. Stalin" and supervised the testing of the icebreaker "Ilya Muromets".
The construction of the ship was entrusted to the Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad, the development of the nuclear power plant project was entrusted to the Design Bureau of the Gorky Plant No. 92. In total, more than 500 enterprises across the country were involved in the creation of the nuclear-powered vessel.
According to the project, the ship was planned to be equipped with a water-water-type nuclear steam-generating unit located in the central part of the icebreaker.
The installation was supposed to provide steam to four main turbogenerators, which fed three electric propulsion motors, which, in turn, drove three propellers - two onboard and one middle.
The length of the vessel was 134 m, width - 27.6 m, side height - 16 m, displacement - 16,800 tons. The crew number was 210 people. The icebreaker was equipped with OK-150 reactors (later OK-900), the fuel for which was uranium dioxide. Several tens of grams of nuclear fuel replaced thousands of tons of fuel oil or coal.
Photo report: Atomic Lenin
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During construction and testing, dozens of delegations and representatives visited the nuclear-powered ship different countries world, including British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, US Vice President Richard Nixon and ministers from China.
The British got to know the nuclear-powered ship for a long time and carefully. “We are very grateful to you for this interesting day spent at your large shipyard,” they wrote in the factory’s book of honored guests on May 21, 1957. “We are taking away a lot of things that belong to the future.”
The delegation of the GDR, led by the President of the People's Chamber Johannes Dieckmann, who arrived on November 12, 1957, also left their feedback.
“We are very impressed by everything we saw and admire the tremendous success of the workers and engineers of this oldest shipyard. May all ships serve for the benefit of humanity, for the world,”
They wrote.
“In the field of shipbuilding, your plant has mastered the most advanced technology...,” wrote representatives of the delegation from China. - You are at the forefront of science and technology throughout the world. We are pleased with your great success. We will always be your close brothers, we will adopt and study your experience in the field of shipbuilding.”
On December 5, 1957, the ship was launched. The completion of the icebreaker's construction in September 1959 coincided with Nikita Khrushchev's first visit to the United States. On September 14, a message appeared in Soviet newspapers in which he responded to letters and telegrams sent to him in connection with the trip.
“Our trip to the USA,” Khrushchev wrote, “coincided with two great events: for the first time in history, a successful flight space rocket to the Moon sent from Earth Soviet people, and the world’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker “Lenin” set sail...
Our nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" will break not only the ice of the oceans, but also the ice of the Cold War.
He will pave the way to the minds and hearts of peoples, calling on them to make a turn from the competition of states in the arms race to the competition in the use of atomic energy for the benefit of man, to warm his soul and body, to create everything that people need..." .
In the fall of 1959, the ship underwent sea trials in the Gulf of Finland, and on December 3, the government commission signed an act on acceptance of the icebreaker into operation. On April 29, 1960, after completing sea trials, the Lenin, accompanied by the icebreaker Captain Voronin, set off for Murmansk, where it arrived on May 6. Ice tests carried out in June showed that the nuclear-powered ship is capable of crossing ice up to 2 m thick at a speed of 2 knots (about 7.5 km/h). After them, the work of the icebreaker in the Arctic began.
On October 17, 1961, equipment for a drifting research station was lowered from the ship onto the ice floe for the first time and members of the expedition were disembarked. Previously, this was carried out only with the help of aviation, which was much more expensive.
In 1970, navigation in the Arctic was extended into the winter for the first time.
There were some accidents on the icebreaker. The first occurred in February 1965 during a scheduled repair and recharging of the icebreaker's nuclear reactors. The second - in 1967. The reactor circuit pipelines leaked. It was decided to liquidate the entire reactor compartment. It was packed in a special capsule and sunk in the area of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
The icebreaker's first nuclear installation operated for six years. Then, after replacing the reactor compartment, the three-reactor installation was replaced with a two-reactor one, with which Lenin operated until 1989.
“Unfortunately, our first icebreaker did not operate for long after recharging. In 1966, the icebreaker was taken out of service to replace the entire steam-producing installation with a more reliable and advanced one... All installation and testing work was completed in 1970 and the icebreaker received a more powerful “heart” - a new type of two-reactor installation, which was equipped with all subsequent nuclear power plants. icebreakers,” recalled one of the reactor developers, engineer Valery Ivanov, in the multi-volume book “Memoirs of OKBM Veterans.”
The icebreaker "Lenin" operated for 30 years. During this time, he covered 654.4 thousand nautical miles, of which 560.6 were in ice. He carried 3,741 ships behind him. In 1989, it was decommissioned and permanently parked in Murmansk. Now the icebreaker has been turned into a museum.
Finally, another dream that came true - I visited the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin". The first ship with a nuclear power plant.To my regret, it was not possible to inspect the entire ship. I examined only those places where excursions are conducted. And this is part of the premises in the superstructure: one cabin, two halls, a reactor compartment through a window and a navigation bridge - this is not enough for me! Now I’ll tell you and show you what I visited, what I saw and just a little bit about the history of the ship.
Believe it or not, the photo shows 11:30 am. And so dark! I live in the north, but besides the fact that it would be so dark at 12 o’clock... in Severodvinsk at this time the sun is already shining with all its might! The polar night has passed, but it is still not very light. By the way, there is also a snowstorm in the photo.
The development of the nuclear-powered ship was carried out in 1954-1955 at TsKB-14 (now “Iceberg”). The chief designer was V.I. Neganov. The nuclear installation was designed under the leadership of Igor Ivanovich Afrikantov. Hull steel grades AK-27 and AK-28 were specially developed at the Prometheus Institute for icebreakers.
A most interesting painting by an artist unknown to me. The moment of launching the icebreaker "Lenin"
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The ship was laid down in 1956 at the shipyard named after. A.Marti in Leningrad. The icebreaker was launched on December 5, 1957, and on September 15, 1959, it set out on its maiden voyage. The ship entered service on December 3, 1959. The first captain of the icebreaker was Pavel Ponomarev.
First captain of the icebreaker Pavel Ponomarev
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This icebreaker was the first to deliver and disembark winterers on an ice floe, ensuring the organization of the drifting polar station "SP-10" in 1961. It was also the responsibility of “Lenin” and its crew to begin the first extended navigation on the main route of the Northern Sea Route Murmansk-Dudinka-Murmansk in 1970. Six months later, the nuclear-powered icebreaker, together with the icebreaker Vladivostok, made an early high-latitude crossing along the Northern Sea Route to the port of Pevek.
View from the navigation bridge
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The Lenin crew also made the first Yamal experimental voyage to Cape Kharasavey in 1976, where the diesel-electric ship Pavel Ponomarev delivered cargo for gas producers under the guidance of a nuclear-powered ship. "Lenin" was the first of the nuclear icebreakers to reach the annual milestone of continuous operation.
On April 10, 1974, the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" was awarded the highest award of the Motherland - the Order of Lenin. It was designed and built to service the Northern Sea Route (between Far East and the European part of Russia), as well as expeditionary navigation in the Arctic. Scientists led by physicist Anatoly Alexandrov worked on the ship project.
Ship's bridge
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Due to the newness of the equipment, difficulties arose with the layout of the engine room during the design process. It was decided to create a mock-up of the engine room from wood. This mock-up was used to work out the designers' layout solutions; fortunately, it was quite simple to remodel this or that fragment of the premises and, without a doubt, much cheaper if it had to be done on a ship under construction. There is a lot of wood on board the ship! Doors, walls, decals - everything is made of wood! At that time it was cheap and high-quality material. Now it would be so, now it’s just plastic and iron.
This is the wardroom; many famous guests have visited this room, including Alexandra Pakhmutova, Fidel Castro, and Yuri Gagarin.
The photo above indicated who were guests on the ship, and during construction there were also celebrities on it! British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, US Vice President Richard Nixon, Chinese ministers and others.
In the photograph we see a piano on which the crew could free time play. On the icebreaker "Lenin" there are many different entertainments for the crew. The icebreaker could be at sea for half a year, so there were many amenities for the crew. The photo hanging above the piano shows interesting point- on the icebreaker as a guest of Fidel Castro
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Cinema hall. Windows through which a picture was sent from the equipment to the screen. I think that in 3-6 months the ship's crew could know every line of the movie characters by heart. As the guide said, according to the crew’s recollections, when they were bored and tired of films, they watched them backwards and came up with different voiceovers.
Screen on which films were projected
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"Lenin" had good ice penetration. In the first 6 years of operation alone, the icebreaker covered over 82 thousand nautical miles and independently navigated more than 400 ships.
A small note: during the first trip to sea for testing, the ship was accompanied by various foreign ships. Western countries were sure that this ship was simply crammed with radioactivity and during the entire journey from Leningrad to the North they accompanied the ship, taking water samples and measuring background radiation, in vain, since everything was clean!
And one more note for tourists! Tourists, do not take dosimeters with you on the ship - they make you look stupid and you can already tell from the dosimeter that you are not very educated, more stupid! No one will ever turn a ship flooded with radiation into a museum! You are walking on a ship that is “clean” in terms of radiation, where the background radiation is lower than on land! Several tourists, with dosimeters and opening their mouths from the fact that there is no radiation here, made me laugh. This is not the Lepse floating base, which is radioactive from head to toe, would you like me to write about it?
Reactor compartment. I have never been inside the reactor compartments, I only observed them from the windows. The walls of these compartments are very thick, with lead and do not allow any harmful radiation to pass through. There is nothing radioactive in the compartment, everything has been taken out and mannequins have been placed!
Model of a ship's nuclear power plant.
Engine room
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I'll call the photos below a hospital! There was an entire hospital on the icebreaker, with an operating room, an X-ray room and a laboratory. Doctors were important members of the crew, but what could we do without them when we’ve been at sea for almost half a year. Funny stories happened. According to the doctors’ recollections, it was that they removed the guys’ tattoos. - We go to sea for a long time, someone has a beloved girl on the shore, well, it happened that they find out about the girl’s betrayal, and they are on the ship, and go to the doctor to remove the tattooed name of the beloved girl. What should we do? Of course they removed it, we’ve still been on the ship for more than a month :).
X-ray?
Laboratory
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A little more history, in which I again mention the Lepse floating base. Two accidents occurred on the nuclear icebreaker Lenin. The first happened in February 1965. The reactor core was partially damaged. Some of the fuel was placed on the Lepse floating technical base, where it is stored to this day. The floating technical base "Lepse" is one of the most dangerous and complex nuclear facilities in the north-west of Russia. The rest of the fuel was unloaded and placed in a container. In 1967, the container was loaded onto a pontoon and sank in Tsivolki Bay, on the eastern coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
One of the ship's cabins. The ship has created conditions for the crew to stay on the ship for a long time. Luxury!
In 1966, based on the results of operation, it was decided to replace the old three-reactor nuclear steam-generating plant with a more advanced two-reactor one. In the first 6 years of operation alone, the icebreaker covered over 82 thousand nautical miles and independently navigated more than 400 ships. In June 1971, the icebreaker Lenin was the first surface vessel to pass north of Severnaya Zemlya. The flight began in Murmansk and ended in Pevek. In this way, the expedition of the icebreaker “Arktika” to the North Pole was prepared in 1977. A bear cub was brought from this expedition and after the expedition was placed in the Leningrad Zoo.
The most beautiful main staircase! The tourists exclaimed: “Oh, it’s like the Titanic.”
The second icebreaker accident occurred in 1967. A leak in the pipelines of the third circuit of the reactor was detected. During the liquidation of the leak, serious mechanical damage was caused to the equipment of the reactor plant. It was decided to completely replace the entire reactor compartment. Part of the fuel was again placed on the floating technical base "Lepse". The reactor installation was towed to Novaya Zemlya in Tsivolki Bay and flooded.
View of the stern from the navigation bridge. Unfortunately, the excursion was very “sad”; I would have liked to go everywhere.
Nuclear icebreaker“Lenin” became the first civilian ship in history with a nuclear power plant, and therefore its achievements from the time the existing fleet was commissioned until the advent of new domestic nuclear-powered ships for civilian use became unique, and some are still unsurpassed.
The nuclear icebreaker has become a real source of personnel for the entire nuclear fleet. In the first 20 years of operation alone, 1,327 people were trained on the ship, who subsequently worked on other nuclear-powered ships and in the coastal structures of the nuclear fleet. These people continued and worthily developed the best traditions of the nuclear icebreaker fleet established on the first nuclear-powered icebreaker, and the names of the outstanding commanders of the first nuclear-powered captain Pavel Akimovich Ponomarev, Boris Makarovich Sokolov, chief mechanic Alexander Kalinovich Sledzyuk are forever inscribed in the history of Arctic exploration.
Exciting stories about Murmansk will be continued.
On December 5, 1957, the world's first surface ship with a nuclear power plant was launched in Leningrad. This wonderful news, shortly before the 42nd anniversary of the Great October Revolution, spread throughout the world.
Foreign newspapers were full of headlines: “The Russians commissioned a nuclear-powered ship”, “The polar colossus of the Soviets is on the Neva”, “Victory on the peaceful front of using atomic energy was won by the Soviet Union”...
1. The decision to build the world's first nuclear icebreaker was made at a meeting of the USSR Council of Ministers on November 20, 1953. The new vessel was necessary for the development of navigation along the Northern Sea Route. Conventional diesel icebreakers had a very high fuel consumption, which reduced their efficiency, while a nuclear icebreaker could sail virtually indefinitely.
2. About 300 enterprises and research institutes of the Soviet Union were involved in the construction of the world's first nuclear icebreaker. The construction of the icebreaker was carried out under open air, since none of the existing workshops were suitable for the construction of a vessel of this scale. Despite this, from the laying of the vessel at the Leningrad shipyard named after. A. Marty less than a year and a half passed before it was launched - from August 25, 1956 to December 5, 1957. 
Construction of the nuclear icebreaker Lenin.
3. The project of the world's first nuclear icebreaker, named Lenin, turned out to be completely unique in terms of openness - during construction and sea trials, it was visited, in particular, by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and US Vice President Richard Nixon.
4. The nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" had not only a nuclear power plant, but also an advanced design, unusual for Soviet ships of that time - on board there was a cinema hall, music and smoking lounges, a sauna, a library, and the crew cabins were designed for 1-2 people. The interior of the ship was decorated with Karelian birch and Caucasian walnut. 
The nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" leaves the slipway.
5. The launching of the first nuclear icebreaker frightened the NATO countries and... the leadership of Leningrad. When the ship left the shipyard, the city authorities demanded guarantees that nothing would happen on the Lenin. atomic explosion. During the passage from Leningrad to Murmansk, the Lenin was accompanied by NATO warships, which analyzed the radiation background around the ship. The fears turned out to be unfounded - during all the years of operation of the icebreaker, not a single member of its crew suffered from radiation.
6. Officially, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin was added to the Soviet fleet on December 3, 1959. Pavel Akimovich Ponomarev was appointed the first captain of the world's first nuclear icebreaker. Interestingly, Ponomarev was previously the captain of the icebreaker Ermak, the world's first Arctic-class icebreaker. 
7. In 1961, the icebreaker Lenin carried out the first ever landing of a drifting research station from a ship. The North Pole-10 station was opened on October 17, 1961 and operated until April 29, 1964. From that moment on, landing polar expeditions from an icebreaker became a common practice.
8. On November 4, 1961, Boris Makarovich Sokolov became the captain of the icebreaker "Lenin", who did not leave his post for almost 30 years, until the ship was withdrawn from the fleet in 1990. In 1981, Boris Sokolov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. 
9. After the commissioning of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", the navigation time in the western region of the Arctic was increased from three to 11 months. Lenin operated successfully for more than 30 years, exceeding its design life by five years. Over these years, the icebreaker covered more than 654 thousand nautical miles (563.6 thousand in ice), guiding 3,741 ships through the Arctic ice. The icebreaker Lenin became the first ship to be on continuous watch in the Arctic for 13 months.
10. After decommissioning in 1990, the icebreaker Lenin was in danger of being scrapped. However, the veterans of its crew managed to achieve the creation of a museum on its base. Currently, the world's first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" is permanently moored in Murmansk, becoming one of the symbols of the polar city.
Nuclear icebreakers are a unique phenomenon. They were built only in the USSR and the Russian Federation. Other major powers do not have such large territories in the Arctic. "Lenin" - the first nuclear icebreaker - was a real breakthrough in the scientific and technical field. He became a symbol Soviet era. To see it with your own eyes, and even more so to be on board, is the dream of many sailors, historians, and admirers Russian fleet. How did the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" appear? More on this later.
History of construction
The creation of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" began in the year of Stalin's death, namely in 1953. Neganov was appointed chief designer. The design of Afrikantov was supervised, and Alexandrov was the scientific director.
During the design process, specialists encountered difficulties in the layout of the engine room. This was due to the newness of the equipment. The creators decided to make a model of the required compartment from wood. It was on it that the designers worked out layout options. Everything could be redone at any time without significant costs.
The nuclear-powered submarine was laid down on August 25, 1956 in Leningrad. Chervyakov was appointed chief builder.
Various factories of the USSR took part in the creation of the nuclear-powered vessel:
- Kirovsky produced ship turbines.
- Kharkov Electromechanical – main turbogenerators.
- Leningradsky – electric propulsion motors.
Scientists from LIPAN were involved in the project. They not only dealt with the scientific side of the issue, but also had experience in engineering and production. LIPAN employees performed the most complex calculation tasks.
The OK-150 installation began to be manufactured in 1955. Its creation received the status of paramount importance. Supervised the work of Afrikantov. Everyone worked at a tense pace. Plant No. 92 switched to working in three shifts; no one took into account the personal time of workers. If the schedule was missed, penalties were imposed on those responsible. Any errors that occurred were promptly corrected. The price of such titanic work was “Lenin”.
Basic parameters
The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin" was the first of its kind. Its displacement was sixteen thousand tons excluding ballast. The length along the greatest dimension is one hundred thirty-four meters, and the width is almost twenty-eight meters. The height of the ship is sixteen meters and ten centimeters. On clean water the ship reached a speed of nineteen and a half knots. The vessel's draft was slightly more than ten meters.
Fleet of nuclear vessels
Soviet minds quite successfully chose the area of application of the energy of a split nucleus. Icebreakers with nuclear power plants were safe and economical. However, the USSR was not the only one who decided on such experiments.
Another state that began building a ship powered by “peaceful atoms” was the United States. Only they decided to create a passenger ship. Savannah served for only seven years in the sixties of the last century. The Americans did not set out to achieve economic benefits from their creation. They just wanted to prove that they were able to create a ship with a nuclear power plant. They succeeded, but they did not develop the atomic program further.
Soviet Union, on the contrary, did not stop at the construction of Lenin. Subsequently, a whole fleet of nuclear-powered ships was created. Vessels are divided into several classes:
- "Lenin";
- "Arctic";
- "Taimyr";
- LK-60Ya;
- LK-110Ya.
In winter, the ice thickness in Arctic waters reaches two and a half meters. Nuclear-powered ships can move through such water at a speed of eleven knots, or twenty kilometers per hour. A total of ten ships were built. Five of them are still in service.
The modern Russian Federation continues to build new icebreakers powered by “peaceful atoms”. In addition to their direct purposes, they carry out excursions. So, for several tens of thousands of US dollars a person can take a cruise to the North Pole. He will spend about five days on the “top” of the planet. Then he will be delivered to Murmansk. Over the past twenty years there have been about nine thousand such tourists. However, let's return to the first icebreaker, which brought the Arctic closer.
Design Features
Many technical solutions of the first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" were innovative at that time:
- Fuel saving. Instead of huge amount of oil, which was consumed by other icebreakers per day, the nuclear-powered ship consumed only forty-five grams of nuclear fuel. This mass fit in a matchbox. In one voyage the ship could travel from the Arctic to Antarctica.
- Horsepower. There were three reactors on board, each more than three times larger than the world's first power plant. By the way, it was also built in the USSR. The total power of the installation reached forty-four horsepower.
- Anti-ice system. The nuclear-powered ship had a special design for ballast tanks. They prevented the nuclear-powered ship from getting stuck in the ice. It worked in such a way that pumping water from one tank to another led to the rocking of the ship. This is how the ice broke and moved apart. The same system was installed at the bow and stern.
- Radiation protection. There is much debate about whether the crew was exposed to heavy radiation. In fact, he was protected from radiation by steel plates, a thick layer of water, and concrete.
Launching
Despite the fact that the nuclear power plant was installed only in 1959, the launch of the nuclear icebreaker Lenin took place earlier, namely in 1957. The nuclear reactor was launched only two years after its descent.
The nuclear-powered icebreaker began sea trials in 1959. In the same year it was handed over to the Ministry navy, and from the next year it became part of the Murmansk Shipping Company.
Years of use
After the launch of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", its operation began. In the very first years he showed excellent performance. The nuclear-powered ship had good ice-breaking ability. During the first six years of service, he covered more than 80 thousand nautical miles. He led more than 400 ships behind him. During the entire period of service, he covered more than 500 thousand miles in ice.
In 1971, the nuclear icebreaker Lenin sailed from Murmansk to Pevek north of Severnaya Zemlya. He worked for thirty years. It was taken out of service in 1989.
Serious accidents
For for many years During service on the 1st nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", two serious accidents occurred:
- 1965 – partial damage to the reactor core. The fuel was partially stored at the Lepse floating technical base. The rest of the fuel was unloaded and placed in a container. Two years later, the fuel container was flooded in Tsivolki, a bay east of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
- 1967 – one of the reactor pipelines leaked. When eliminating the leak, the installation equipment was seriously damaged. The entire reactor compartment was replaced. The fuel was partially placed on the same floating technical base. Tsivolki Bay was replenished with a reactor plant, which was flooded, as was the fuel.
Flooding nuclear waste can hardly be called environmental concern. The installation of a new reactor plant on the nuclear icebreaker Lenin was completed only in 1970.
Eternal parking place
The ship, which the Soviet Union was proud of, was not scrapped, despite the fact that it has not been operational since 1989. Where is the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" located? Murmansk accepted him for eternal parking. It can be found on the pier of the sea station.
Captains
During its operation, the nuclear icebreaker Lenin had two captains. The first was Pavel Ponomarev, who took part in the development of the nuclear-powered ship. He was born back in 1896 and lived for seventy-seven years. He was a famous navigator, captain of the icebreaker Ermak. During World War II he conducted ice operations in the Baltic. He was appointed captain in 1957. He remained in office only until 1961. He was suspended for health reasons. At least that's the official version.
Boris Sokolov became the second captain of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin". He was born in 1927 and lived seventy-three years. His father was a carpenter. Boris Sokolov studied in Leningrad, at the Higher Arctic maritime school. During his internship, he sailed on many ships, including icebreakers. Since 1959, he became the backup captain of Lenin, and two years later he was appointed full captain.
During his command, the crew of the nuclear-powered ship completed all of its most important missions:
- Passed into the Chukchi Sea, an area of heavy ice.
- He built the North Pole station, which could drift.
- Posted by multi-year ice sixteen radio weather stations that operated automatically. One of the drifting radio weather stations was installed beyond the eightieth parallel, when the polar night reigned.
- Conducted an experimental voyage to remove ore from the port of Dudinka.
On the captain's bridge, Boris Makarovich led many ships through the ice. Thanks to his efforts, the nuclear-powered icebreaker was preserved for posterity. Under him, it was converted into a museum.
Since 2001, the captain of the no longer floating nuclear-powered ship has been Alexander Barinov.
Museum opening
The world's first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" has been preserved for posterity in the form of a museum. It has been welcoming visitors since 2009. In order to visit it, just come to the pier and wait until a group of people gathers. On weekends this takes about thirty minutes.
An unforgettable excursion
The ship that most people have heard of Soviet schoolchildren, settled down to eternal rest in the Kola Bay. It is not loaded, so the waterline is visible high above the water.
You can read about the history of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" at the museum on the stand that is on the pier. There is also a photograph of the first captain on it.
To get on the nuclear-powered ship itself, you need to go to the floating pier. From there, people walk along the ladder onto the ship. A symbol can be seen on the hull, which makes it clear what fuel the icebreaker ran on. It can be called a symbol of the “peaceful atom”.
If you climb on board, you can see the Kola Bay. On the other side is Cape Abram. After entering the ship there is a museum ticket office and a souvenir shop. Among other things, you can purchase a book on navigation and the Soviet era. For example, Soviet primers and models of an icebreaker are sold there.
There are two stairways leading from the main hall, built symmetrically. You can climb along them to the upper tier. Opposite them stands a bronze bas-relief depicting a map of the Soviet Arctic. You can estimate what places the ship navigated for three decades.
The interior of the nuclear-powered ship is impressive. The corridors and cabins have high-quality wooden trim. If you fall behind on the excursion, you can get lost in large quantities similar corridors. That is why single visitors are not allowed into the museum, but are taken in small groups with an escort. The downside is that the guide shows a small part of the nuclear-powered ship.
In the dining room, all chairs are well secured to the floor. And this is not surprising, since the icebreaker could get into a storm. Then all the loose furniture would fly around the hall, hitting the crew members. There is a piano in the dining room. In addition, it served as a cinema hall, since there is a white screen hanging on the wall.
The tour also visits the nuclear reactor compartment. Lead protects it. However, this is no longer required, since the equipment was dismantled before the nuclear-powered ship was removed from the fleet. For ambiance, mannequins in chemical protective suits stand near the compartment. You can look at the nuclear reactor on the model.
There is a beautiful view from the pilothouse. You can see Murmansk, but once upon a time completely different landscapes were visible from the window of the ship. These are Arctic ice, the North Pole, the northern lights, the shores of Chukotka and much more. It must have been an unforgettable sight of the searchlight that cut through the darkness of the polar night.
On the table in the wheelhouse lies a ship's log, dated 1986. For some, this is already a long story. Not surprising, since more than thirty years have passed since then. Next door is the radio room. She is the one responsible for external communications. "Lenin" kept in touch with ports and other ships.
In the wardroom there is a wooden carved panel hanging on the wall. It depicts the Arctic. Perhaps it hung here when Yuri Gagarin, Fidel Castro and others visited the nuclear-powered ship famous personalities. The icebreaker itself is also depicted on the panel. Next comes the mate's cabin. It contains a bust of Lenin, whose name the nuclear-powered ship bears. In the leisure room there is a chessboard and a piano.
After wandering through the compartments, cabins and labyrinthine corridors, it’s nice to go outside again. If there is time left, you can take another look at the ship and make sure that it is not for nothing that it is considered the most striking symbol of Arctic exploration.
Although the first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" (launched in 1957) was withdrawn from the fleet back in 1989, there is a crew on board. It is no longer as numerous as before.
In the old days the crew numbered two hundred and forty-three people. They could swim for a full calendar year across the Arctic without touching the shore. It was a real city on the water. There was even a hospital on board the ship. The doctors had an X-ray machine and an operating room at their disposal. In the middle of the last century, this was considered advanced technology.
The chief mechanic of the nuclear-powered ship, Vladimir Kondratyev, was fond of photography. Over the years of sailing, he took many photographs. You can view them at the exhibition of photographs of the Arctic.
During construction and immediately after the launch of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", many people visited its board famous people. Among them are Harold Macmillan and Richard Nixon. One of the photos shows Fidel Castro, who visited Murmansk. He examines the model of the ship with interest.
The ship was used for filming of the disaster film “Icebreaker,” released in 2016. The plot tells about real events. They only happened with the ship “Mikhail Somov”. The crew spent one hundred and thirty-three days among the ice awaiting rescue. This story happened in 1985.