Article on Russian Icebreaker renewal + new Ice-Class list

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I know I said I was taking a mini-vacation this weekend where I didnt write, however I did want to take a moment to highlight something I saw, amd give an update to our Ice-Class list that I made a while back.

The folks at Aker brought up a recent BBC article on the current status of Russia's icebreaker fleet renewal. It's in Russian, though a simple translation works well.

The piece goes fairly in depth on the current state of things on the Russian side, and how sanctions, corruption, and the war in Ukraine have hindered Russian efforts to quickly replace their aging fleet of icebreakers.

Often, when discussing icebreakers (and I won't get into definitions) we tend to focus on the pure number of vessels, while ignoring both the capabilities of most of Russia's icebreakers as well as their age, particularly the diesel fleet, which is often forgotten under the shadow of Russia's nuclear fleet. That nuclear fleet, too, is struggling.

Its rare to get these inside looks at Russia's fleet, so I am always keen to see it. Icebreakers are something I am still learning about. Admittedly, even the current systems confuse me greatly, though I have had some lovely talks from the people at Aker Arctic about the basics.

A key note for me is all the systems. Truthfully, even the Polar-class system is not ‘set in stone’ and there are many nuances that one must consider. Never is it as simple as saying a Polar Class and moving on. Not all vessels with the same rating are equal, nor is it a universal.

The Artic and Offshore Patrol Ships, for example, regularly exceed the limits of their Polar Class 5 designation, even with a Polar Class 4 bow. That does not make it a Polar Class 4, nor because it can break a similar amount of First-Year Ice as the USCGC Healy are they equals.

Universal standards like this provide a good idea, and can be used to easily get a general draft of what a vessel is able to do. However the more you get into this, the more you realize you really need to look at everything from an individual standpoint to really get a clear picture of capabilities.

I wanted to point this out because comparisons between the Russian and Canadian Icebreaking fleets can often be tainted by merely looking at the Ice Class, to which both use different standards. So hile they might have some equivalent they are not enough to simply transfer without issue.

I recently spoke to some of the folks at Aker where they pointed out the current capabilities of the Russian Project 22220 nuclear Icebreakers as compared to the future CCGS Imnaryuaq being built at Seaspan.

One thing I did not know was that during trials of both Artika and Sibir, both vessels demonstrated the ability to break 2.6m of Ice at a continuous speed of 3 Knots. This is actually similar to what the future Imnaryuaq was designed to do.

Of course the future Imnaryuaq is only designed to meet that requirement, and may in fact end up exceeding it. They will also be equipped with Akers DAS™ propulsion layout: two azimuthing propulsion units flanking a fixed shaftline in the middle.

I don't wanna get to far into this, as I am still not versed enough to where I feel confident in these things. Keep in mind also that these kinds of measurements, and the tests that go with them, are quite complex before we start talking, for example, about the differences in size, propulsion and power.

However, if we can gloat, it should be noted that the Imnaryuaq will achieve these results despite those differences being in favour of the Project 22220.

I will also say, if you are interested in this stuff, that Aker Arctic is a great follow over on X. They are very active and always willing to have a conversation which is great for these kinds of very niche conversations.

Canada is just beginning its own renewal effort, one I would argue is often overlooked within the Navy side of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, yet is just as grand in scale and just as important to Canada's security.

If you're curious about the scale of Canada's future ice-strengthened fleet-not all of them are icebreakers, after all!-I've put together a small spreadsheet with basic classifications and numbers for those curious.

I previously posted this before, but didn't put up an updated version. This new version corrects the numbers on the Continental Defence Corvette, fixed the Polar Class labeling to include a space, and gives the Resolute-class, which I have been incorrectly using as a fill-in for the Interim Icebreakers with their proper Tor Viking designation.

I havent seen the Tor Viking designation used much at all, but three people have asked I use it over Resolute, which only ever existed for Davies marketing. This correct that now with the more official designation! Sorry Mario!