Yermak (1898 icebreaker)

{{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = Yermak icebreaker.jpg | image_caption = ''Yermak'' on the Baltic Sea before 1917 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = |country=Russian Empire/RSFSR/USSR |flag={{shipboxflag|Russian Empire|government}} {{shipboxflag| Russian SFSR|government}} {{shipboxflag|Soviet Union|government}} | name = Yermak | owner = | operator = | registry = | route = | ordered = | builder = N. I. Yankovsky, R. I. Runeberg, Armstrong Whitworth and others | original_cost = | yard_number = 684 | way_number = | laid_down = 1897 | launched = 17 October 1898 | completed = 1899 | christened = | acquired = 1899 | maiden_voyage = | in_service = | out_of_service = 1963 | identification = | fate = Scrapped 1964 | notes = }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = | tonnage = | displacement = 8730 tons | length = 97.5 m | beam = 21.6 m | height = | draught = 7.3 m | draft = | depth = | decks = | deck_clearance = | ramps = | ice_class = Icebreaker | sail_plan = | power = 9000 hp | propulsion = 4 shaft, 8 VTE steam engines, 6 boilers | speed = 12 knots | capacity = | crew = 102 | notes = }} }}

'''''Yermak'''''<ref>Sometimes romanized as '''''Ermak'''''.</ref> ({{lang-rus|Ермак|p=Jɛrmak}}) was a Russian and later Soviet icebreaker. It was the first polar icebreaker in the world, having a strengthened hull shaped to ride over and crush pack ice.

==History== [[File:General Admiral Apraksin and Yermak in Gogland.jpg|thumb|left|''Yermak'' assisting the stranded warship ''Apraxin'', 1900]] thumb|150px|1976 Soviet postage stamp honoring the ''Yermak'' An earlier vessel, the schooner Yermak, was commissioned for the 1862 attempt to find the Yenissei river delta by Paul Theodor von Krusenstern, by navigating from Murmansk through the Kara Sea to the destination, but was shipwrecked before obtaining success.<ref name=ptvk1>Naufrage du lieutenant Krusenstern dans les glaces de la mer de Kara (1863, in Le Tour du monde Volume 8 pp.203-208)</ref>

''Yermak'' was built for the Imperial Russian Navy under the supervision of vice-admiral S. O. Makarov by the members of his commission, which included D. I. Mendeleev, engineers N. I. Yankovsky and R. I. Runeberg, admiral F. F. Wrangel, among others.<ref>[http://www.prlib.ru/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=709 На воду спущен первый в мире ледокол «Ермак»]</ref> It was built in Newcastle upon Tyne at its Low Walker yard and launched in 1898. She was named after the famous Russian explorer of Siberia, Don Cossack ataman Yermak Timofeyevich.

She was commissioned on 17 October 1898. She arrived in Kronstadt on 4 March 1899 after breaking through ice and a formal reception was held to mark her arrival. Later in 1899 she reached 81°21'N north of Spitsbergen. She had been constructed to break through heavy ice (up to 2 m in thickness).

''Yermak'' had been used in the winter of 1899–1900 to set up the first radio communication link in Russia between Kotka and Gogland (Suursaar) island (distance 47 km). In 1900 she came to the aid of the cruiser ''Gromoboi'' which had grounded in the Baltic.

Between 1899 and 1911 ''Yermak'' sailed in heavy ice conditions for more than 1000 days.''Yermak'' was initially part of the fleet sailing to the Battle of Tsushima but irresponsible manoeuvring resulted in shots being fired across her bow before she was dismissed from the fleet in early October 1904 O.S.<ref name=Pleshakov62>{{cite book |last=Pleshakov |first=Constantine |title=The Tsar's Last Armada |publisher=Basic Books |publication-place=Oxford |date=2002 |isbn=1-903985-31-5 |page=62}}</ref>

During World War I she assisted the Baltic Fleet during the Ice Cruise when the fleet was evacuated from Helsinki to Kronstadt in February 1918.

During World War II the ''Yermak'' was mobilised again and took part in the evacuation of Hanko naval base. She was armed with two 102 mm, two 76 mm, four 45 mm and four machine guns.

''Yermak'' served with different branches of the Russian and Soviet Navy and Merchant Marine up until 1964, becoming one of the longest-serving icebreakers in the world. An island in the Nordenskiöld Archipelago was named after her.

By 1963 it was scrapped, despite efforts to preserve it as a museum piece.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140805191557/http://mvestnik.ru/shwpgn.asp?pid=2013021620 Сначала срезали имя, потом сняли орден]</ref>

A monument to the icebreaker ''Yermak'' was unveiled in Murmansk In November 1965 – this included mosaic panels and the original anchor on the pedestal.

Another icebreaker with the name ''Yermak'' was built for the Soviet Union at the Wärtsilä Helsinki shipyard, Finland in 1974. Russia employs an icebreaker named ''Yermak'' in the Baltic Sea as late as 2010.<ref name=BalticIcebreakers> {{cite news | url=http://www.bsis.eisdienst.de/material/Icebreakerservice.pdf | title=Restrictions to Navigation | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718233344/http://www.bsis.eisdienst.de/material/Icebreakerservice.pdf | url-status=live | archive-date=2011-07-18 }}</ref> <gallery> File:E. J. Slawinsky - Ice-breaker “ERMACK” and her work in Baltic Ports - 1911.jpg|The first photographic album on Ice-breaker "Ermack" File:E. J. Slawinsky - Ice-breaker “ERMACK” and her work in Baltic Ports - 1911 - title page.jpg|The first photographic album on Ice-breaker "Ermack" – title page </gallery> <gallery> File:E. J. Slawinsky - Ice-breaker “ERMACK” and her work in Baltic Ports - 1911 - pic. nr. 5.jpg|The first photographic album on Ice-breaker "Ermack" – pic. nr. 5 </gallery>

==References== <references/>

==External links== {{commons category|Yermak (ship, 1899)}} *[http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Icebreakers.asp History of icebreakers, by the US Coast Guard]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yermak}} Category:Icebreakers of Russia Category:Icebreakers of the Soviet Union Category:Ships built on the River Tyne Category:1898 ships Category:Russian inventions Category:History of Franz Josef Land