The unique rescue ship "Baltika" has completed tests in the Arctic and arrived in Murmansk. The world's first asymmetric icebreaker is capable of extinguishing fires, collecting spilled oil and freeing ships from ice captivity. Ahead of the "Baltika" - joint Russian-Norwegian exercises.
The first real baptism of the Baltic ice took place in the Arctic. In the Kara Sea, the capabilities of the newest rescue vessel were once again tested. The result exceeded all wildest expectations.
The multifunctional rescue ship "Baltika" was nicknamed the crooked ship. One side is straight, the other is convex. A non-standard case is not a defect, but just its main advantage. Thanks to the asymmetric design feature, the Baltika can move forward, backward, and even sideways.
How this happens can be clearly seen from above. The vessel digs a channel two and a half times its own width. Previously, only two icebreakers could break through such dimensions.
"We used an oblique course in the ice. They also showed the best results. With a vessel width of 20 meters, it is able to make a channel 50 meters wide," explained Sergey Glibin, captain of the Baltika MFUSS.
The universal marine rescuer can put out fires, collect oil from the surface of the water. He is able to free ships stuck in the ice. Not terrible for the "Baltic" and the storm. If necessary, the ship is ready to save people even in heavy seas - everything is provided for emergency assistance. There is a helipad and boats.
“In terms of its speed, its icebreaking qualities, it is a completely reliable icebreaker. It is worthy of working in the latitudes where we were,” says Nikolai Dyakov, senior engineer of the Baltika MFUSS.
The first innovative vessel of reinforced ice class is the result of joint efforts of shipbuilders from Kaliningrad and Helsinki. Both Russia and Finland are proud of this project. Nothing like it has ever been done in the world.
Here, even the captain's bridge is not one, but two at once. However, both jobs are equally comfortable. For additional workplace can be crossed if the ship is going obliquely. From here the captain will appreciate the ice situation much better.
And if necessary, "Baltika" can go without human intervention. Smart electronics and completely autonomous control systems will help. The maneuverability of the vessel is provided by powerful propellers that move at the command of miniature joysticks.
“It didn’t have propeller shafts like before, it has three rudder propellers. Two at the stern, one in the bow,” says Dmitry Smirnov, First Deputy Head of the Rosmorrechflot Marine Rescue Service, about the ship’s design features.
At the beginning of June, the ship will go to joint Russian-Norwegian exercises.
In the meantime, the Baltika has moored next to the first Soviet nuclear icebreaker"Lenin", which has long been turned into a museum. From the deck of the legendary past, there is a good view of the budding present.
Secondly, the ability to go semi-sideways in the ice, which gives an almost twice as wide channel, 50 instead of 25 meters for a conventional icebreaker of similar dimensions. The 50-meter channel allows free passage for commercial ships. There is a second bridge for "oblique" movement.
Project R-70202 innovative icebreaker for oil spill response and rescue operations was developed by the Finnish company Aker Arctic Technology. The icebreaker was created in two stages. Laid down in June 2012 at Yantar in Kaliningrad, then, a year later, the main parts were transported to Finland to Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for assembly. The first tests took place at the beginning of 2014, and in May it was accepted by the state commission.
The icebreaker is equipped with special equipment for oil spill response, fire fighting, and environmental monitoring. It is capable of moving in flat ice 1 m thick. The length of the vessel is 76.4 m, width - 20.5 m, draft - 6.3 m, power of three diesel generators - 7.5 MW, speed - 14 knots, speed in flat ice 1 m thick - 3 knots. The total is 7.5 MW. Crew - 24 people, special personnel - 12 people, autonomy - 20 days (24 people).
somehow strangely associated with such a snow blower:
Rescue ship "Baltika" - asymmetry is not a vice
Baltika is not an ordinary project. Initially, when the construction of the ship had just begun, some spoke of it with some irony, mainly due to the fact that the term asymmetric was often confused with the word “curve” or “oblique”, which is not very close to the truth. And actually this asymmetry itself became calling card project.
"A competition for the oblique captain has been announced"
(comment to Newsland news)
“And it will always be controlled by a “crooked” crew”
(comments to the news "VPK News")
“If the ship looks like a freak, then it will be operated - ugly! The lesson of "priests" did not go well (or maybe modern Internet designers have not heard anything about them).
(comment to the news "Korabel.ru")
To make fun of the design of the icebreaker, when photographs and videos appeared on the network, on which you can clearly see that the ship is not just another “myth”, but the most utter reality, gradually ceased. But shipbuilders and simply interested people found another reason to lament and make fun of the domestic ship industry. However, this is more likely not discontent and aggression, but an ordinary statement of fact with a slight degree of sadness and self-irony - they say, “Baltika”, although ours, was only built by the Finns. And no excuses about the supply of body parts with domestic enterprises and the excessive workload of the shipyards of our country, advocating for Russian shipbuilding, cannot be pacified.
So, at the conference "Russian Shipbuilding", which was held in St. Petersburg in April 2014, the head of CJSC "TsNIIMF" Sergei Buyanov in his welcoming speech noted that the "Baltika" is certainly a unique ship of its kind, but still “I would like such ships to be built at our domestic factories”.
Rescue vessel "Baltika" / Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
But be that as it may, this is a topic for a separate discussion, and the new icebreaker is almost ready to work "one hundred percent". And those who were present at the sea trials could personally make sure that a slightly non-standard approach to design still became a kind of breakthrough.
And although the project has received its material embodiment only now, as we were told by Aker Arktic, which is the developer of the Baltika project, the idea of an asymmetric icebreaker was born in the late 90s, when the requirements for icebreaking support for the fleet of the Baltic Sea were analyzed.
By the end of 1996, the idea of creating a lagging icebreaker was developed, and in 1997 the first model tests of the ARC 100 project were carried out. “Later, a decision was made to build an oil terminal in Primorsk. At the same time, the idea came up to use the ship to deal with oil spills., the company said.
Further development work on the project continued in cooperation with the Finnish Maritime Administration, the Finnish Environmental Institute and ABB, with partial funding from the Finnish Technology Fund. As a result, the updated project was presented to the administrations of Finland and Russia in 2003. The Ministry of Transport of Russia made an order for the construction of the vessel when signing the contract in 2011.
In general, a ship like the Baltika could have been built even earlier. About this, when "Korabel" visited "Aker Arktic" (see the article "Shipbuilding in Finland. Part 2: "Aker Arctic" - "It is difficult to prove the advantages of an innovative approach"), said the sales director Arto Uuskallio: “We had the opportunity to implement this idea earlier, but the Customer then last moment preferred the traditional ship concept. This is an advanced development, and conservative thinking is practiced in shipbuilding. It is difficult to prove the benefits of an innovative approach.”.
“In general, the emergence of such a project has become a kind of response to an increase in the number of tanker traffic in the Gulf of Finland”, - note in "Aker Arktic". The asymmetric icebreaker is a continuation of the tradition of using the stern-forward method of moving through ice on ships. In practice, Baltika, due to the fact that moving forward at an angle to the diametrical plane, makes a channel 50 meters wide, replaces the work of two icebreakers.
Aker Arktic has patented the idea of an asymmetrical ship hull. There are no analogues in the world, project developers note. And Baltika is the first ship built according to the ARC 100 project. “At the moment, the project has been expanded to the level of a reinforced version designed for harsher working conditions in the Arctic”, the company said.
“The secret of the uniqueness of the creation of the concept of the vessel lies in an integrated approach to solving problems. This is a multifunctional icebreaking vessel. It is ideal for year-round oil spill response, escort operations, emergency towing, firefighting and monitoring. environment» , - noted in the Finnish company.
The vessel is equipped with a diesel-electric plant with three azimuth propellers - one of the devices is located in the bow, the second in the stern and the third on the side in the stern of the hull. This solution provides efficient work vessel when moving bow, stern and log. Rudder propellers with a total capacity of 7.5 MW also help in the work of Baltika. The rescue vessel has a double bottom, a continuous main deck and tween deck, and a forecastle. Superstructure with residential and office space located in the bow of the "Baltic".
The vessel is capable of moving in even ice 1 m thick both bow and stern forward and at an angle, laying a channel up to 50 m wide in even ice 60 cm thick. For comparison, according to some reports, the diesel-electric icebreakers Moskva and St. 29 m. It is worth noting that Baltika's engines can run on fuel with a low sulfur content, which is especially important in terms of environmental efficiency.
“New oil spill collection principles have been applied on the vessel: a port is opened and oil is collected while the vessel is moving, and then oil is separated from water in special compartments using brush collectors and can be reloaded onto collection vessels”, - said Sergey Shishkin, head of the RS classification department. Such a system works even with significant sea waves.
The rest of the icebreaker's equipment, as noted in the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, also represents the most modern models that meet current and future requirements for safety, environmental and energy efficiency, and ergonomics. It is not for nothing that the Baltika is called a multifunctional vessel - it is capable of performing several tasks at once: icebreaking operations in ports and port areas, towing ships and floating objects, escort of ships, liquidation of emergency oil and oil products spills, fire fighting, environmental monitoring and emergency rescue operations. For this, the ship has everything necessary equipment: helipad, crane with a lifting capacity of 25 tons for carrying out cargo operations, equipment for collecting oil products and lowering / lifting a work boat.
The vessel was ordered by federal agency sea and river transport of Russia. It's no secret that the order for the construction of "Baltika" was sent to the shipyard "Yantar". The plant signed the contract on November 9, 2011. The laying of the vessel took place on June 6, 2012. The Finnish shipyard Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Inc acted as a subcontractor of the plant. Thus, the Kaliningrad shipbuilders were engaged in the manufacture of hull blocks, and the Finns - in the formation of the hull, outfitting work and carried out tests.
Today, few can say that the project failed. Although, only shipyard workers and those specialists who were present at the tests saw it in action, and even then not in ice conditions. But it's still ahead. Next winter, all the "opponents" and "defenders" of the unusual project will be able to find out whether Baltika will cope with its "icebreaking" task or not. According to Sergei Shishkin: The real baptism of ice will take place during the next winter navigation in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, and we hope that the ship will confirm its design characteristics.”. As Igor Zubakov, project manager of R-70202, quoted by the press service of the Yantar plant, noted, the ship showed excellent running characteristics and high maneuverability during tests at sea, which means the customer will be satisfied.
The ship will be handed over to the customer in St. Petersburg. It is planned that the icebreaker will operate in the Baltic. However, among other things, the crew of the ship has yet to be prepared for work. “The Baltika is more difficult to manage than a conventional vessel and requires special training. Since large shipping companies express their interest in the project, a computer-assisted training model has already been created on the basis of the Helsinki Maritime Institute for future navigators of such vessels.”, - notes the head of the RS classification department.
In the end, I would like to note that it is possible that Baltika will not be the only asymmetric icebreaker. Moreover, as the company that developed the project said, there is certainly interest in this vessel. “Now this ship is talked about at every conference on the Arctic and maritime topics. Sea trials not only confirmed expectations, but also turned out to be better. Now it is very interesting to find out how the ship will behave in the ice,”- noted in the press service of "Aker Arktic".
Asymmetric icebreaker "Baltika" / Photo: www.popmech.ru
The asymmetric icebreaker turned out to be somewhat better than the traditional icebreakers.
Shipbuilders like to speculate that their field of mechanical engineering is one of the most conservative. However, from the outside, everything seems the other way around - there are no ships of any kind: catamarans, trimarans, hydrofoils, hovercraft, with sailing weapons, with outboard engines. Even ekranoplanes, and those belong to the ships. Therefore, the words of Arto Uuskallio, Sales Director of the Finnish company Aker Arctic, that conservative thinking is practiced in shipbuilding and it is difficult to prove the advantages of an innovative approach, did not cause a proper response in us.
Asymmetric icebreaker "Baltika" / Image: www.popmech.ru
True, Arto spoke not just about ships, but about icebreakers, unusual ships, in which much is different from their brothers. For example, they walk equally well both bow and stern forward, and the most powerful ice passes just astern. There are only two companies in the world with a strong research base that come up with and develop new icebreaking concepts: the St. Petersburg Krylov State Research Center and the Finnish company Aker Arctic. But it was the Finns who in 1996 came up with the idea of a new icebreaker capable of operating bow or stern forward, as well as at an angle to the diametrical plane. The idea was tested using a conventional icebreaker, which was pulled with a lag. The test results were positive, and in late 1996 a new triangular hull shape was developed. And in 1997, the idea of an icebreaker operating at an angle won an innovation prize from the Norwegian giant Kvaerner, which, by the way, made offshore platform for the Sea Launch space project.
triangular icebreaker
However, the project stopped - there were no orders for a triangular icebreaker. The Scandinavians further developed the idea: in 2002, they decided to use the asymmetric hull shape not only for breaking ice, but also for oil spill response and emergency rescue operations at sea. The left convex side was adapted for breaking ice, the flat right side was intended for collecting oil. It didn't matter to the new icebreaker which way to sail - three asymmetrically located rotary rudder propellers were designed for it, one of which was located in the bow. It turned out to be a multifunctional rescue icebreaker, but no one needed it either.
But then, fortunately for the Finns, our relations with the Baltics began to worsen, and Russian government a decision was made to redirect cargo flows from the Baltic ports to Russian ones - in particular, to Primorsk - the most modern commercial seaport in the Baltic Sea, capable of receiving ships with a displacement of up to 150,000 tons with a maximum draft that can enter the Baltic Sea from the ocean. (Due to the limited depths in the Danish Straits, supertankers cannot enter the Baltic.) This option is good for everyone, except for one thing: Primorsk is located much north of the Baltic ports, and its water area must be cleared of ice in winter. Ice escort of tankers to the port requires a channel with a width of about 50 m, which requires two traditional icebreakers. This is where the Finnish idea came in handy - an asymmetric icebreaker could lay channels 50 m wide in one pass, moving "board forward". In October 2011, a contract was signed between the Russian Maritime and River Transport Agency, the Yantar Kaliningrad Baltic Shipbuilding Plant and the Finnish Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, and in the spring of 2014, the world's first asymmetric icebreaker, named Baltika, was launched.
Scheme of the movement of the icebreaker "Baltika" / Image: www.popmech.ru
Jack of all trades
"Baltika" is not a specialized icebreaker, but a multifunctional vessel capable of extinguishing a fire and collecting oil after emergency spills, saving both people and ships. The vessel has a standard built-in system of brush collectors, with the help of which oil is separated from water. The vertical side of the vessel works as a cleaning barrier that directs oily water to the vessel through the porthole. The oil is collected in collection tanks, and the treated water is pumped back to the sea. The ship has a helipad for evacuation, firefighting and towing equipment. Thanks to three rotary rudder propellers, Baltika has unique maneuverability and, as a port tug, can give a hundred points ahead of traditional tugs. Well, it cleans the ice in the port waters no worse than a real janitor. According to Igor Zubakov, who manages the Baltika construction project at the Yantar plant, the ship is able to move as you like: forward, backward, lag at an angle of 90 °. Tests have shown that the most optimal option is when the Baltika turns the hull at 30-40 ° from the course and moves stern forward. On thin ice, up to half a meter, the vessel calmly turns on the spot and breaks the ice with its bow. According to Igor Zubakov, the asymmetric body has greatly expanded its capabilities. For example, a ship is able to turn around on the spot, although "according to the classics" icebreakers turn around in a "star".
In fact, the seven-megawatt Baltika, designed for the Baltic Sea, turned out to be a trial balloon for a new icebreaker design. And quite successful. Aker Arctic is now actively offering potential customers an asymmetric powerful 25-megawatt icebreaker is already ready to work in the Arctic. It is quite possible that he will receive a residence permit in our country. Such powerful ice, like ours, we still need to look.
Secondly, the ability to go semi-sideways in the ice, which gives an almost twice as wide channel, 50 instead of 25 meters for a conventional icebreaker of similar dimensions. The 50-meter channel allows free passage for commercial ships. There is a second bridge for "oblique" movement.
The P-70202 project of an innovative icebreaker for oil spill response and rescue operations was developed by the Finnish company Aker Arctic Technology. The icebreaker was created in two stages. Laid down in June 2012 at Yantar in Kaliningrad, then, a year later, the main parts were transported to Finland to Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for assembly. The first tests took place at the beginning of 2014, and in May it was accepted by the state commission.
The icebreaker is equipped with special equipment for oil spill response, fire fighting, and environmental monitoring. It is capable of moving in flat ice 1 m thick. The length of the vessel is 76.4 m, width - 20.5 m, draft - 6.3 m, power of three diesel generators - 7.5 MW, speed - 14 knots, speed in flat ice 1 m thick - 3 knots. The total is 7.5 MW. Crew - 24 people, special personnel - 12 people, autonomy - 20 days (24 people).
somehow strangely associated with such a snow blower:
Rescue ship "Baltika" - asymmetry is not a vice
Baltika is not an ordinary project. Initially, when the construction of the ship had just begun, some spoke of it with some irony, mainly due to the fact that the term asymmetric was often confused with the word “curve” or “oblique”, which is not very close to the truth. And in fact, this asymmetry itself has become the hallmark of the project.
"A competition for the oblique captain has been announced"
(comment to Newsland news)
“And it will always be controlled by a “crooked” crew”
(comments to the news "VPK News")
“If the ship looks like a freak, then it will be operated - ugly! The lesson of "priests" did not go well (or maybe modern Internet designers have not heard anything about them).
(comment to the news "Korabel.ru")
To make fun of the design of the icebreaker, when photographs and videos appeared on the network, on which you can clearly see that the ship is not just another “myth”, but the most utter reality, gradually ceased. But shipbuilders and simply interested people found another reason to lament and make fun of the domestic ship industry. However, this is more likely not discontent and aggression, but an ordinary statement of fact with a slight degree of sadness and self-irony - they say, “Baltika”, although ours, was only built by the Finns. And no excuses about the supply of hull parts from domestic enterprises and the excessive workload of the shipyards of our country, advocating for Russian shipbuilding, can be pacified.
So, at the conference "Russian Shipbuilding", which was held in St. Petersburg in April 2014, the head of CJSC "TsNIIMF" Sergei Buyanov in his welcoming speech noted that the "Baltika" is certainly a unique ship of its kind, but still “I would like such ships to be built at our domestic factories”.
Rescue vessel "Baltika" / Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
But be that as it may, this is a topic for a separate discussion, and the new icebreaker is almost ready to work "one hundred percent". And those who were present at the sea trials could personally make sure that a slightly non-standard approach to design still became a kind of breakthrough.
And although the project has received its material embodiment only now, as we were told by Aker Arktic, which is the developer of the Baltika project, the idea of an asymmetric icebreaker was born in the late 90s, when the requirements for icebreaking support for the fleet of the Baltic Sea were analyzed.
By the end of 1996, the idea of creating a lagging icebreaker was developed, and in 1997 the first model tests of the ARC 100 project were carried out. “Later, a decision was made to build an oil terminal in Primorsk. At the same time, the idea came up to use the ship to deal with oil spills., the company said.
Further development work on the project continued in cooperation with the Finnish Maritime Administration, the Finnish Environmental Institute and ABB, with partial funding from the Finnish Technology Fund. As a result, the updated project was presented to the administrations of Finland and Russia in 2003. The Ministry of Transport of Russia made an order for the construction of the vessel when signing the contract in 2011.
In general, a ship like the Baltika could have been built even earlier. About this, when "Korabel" visited "Aker Arktic" (see the article "Shipbuilding in Finland. Part 2: "Aker Arctic" - "It is difficult to prove the advantages of an innovative approach"), said the sales director Arto Uuskallio: “We had the opportunity to implement this idea before, but the customer then at the last moment preferred the traditional concept of the ship. This is an advanced development, and conservative thinking is practiced in shipbuilding. It is difficult to prove the benefits of an innovative approach.”.
“In general, the emergence of such a project has become a kind of response to an increase in the number of tanker traffic in the Gulf of Finland”, - note in "Aker Arktic". The asymmetric icebreaker is a continuation of the tradition of using the stern-forward method of moving through ice on ships. In practice, Baltika, due to the fact that moving forward at an angle to the diametrical plane, makes a channel 50 meters wide, replaces the work of two icebreakers.
Aker Arktic has patented the idea of an asymmetrical ship hull. There are no analogues in the world, project developers note. And Baltika is the first ship built according to the ARC 100 project. “At the moment, the project has been expanded to the level of a reinforced version designed for harsher working conditions in the Arctic”, the company said.
“The secret of the uniqueness of the creation of the concept of the vessel lies in an integrated approach to solving problems. This is a multifunctional icebreaking vessel. It is well suited for year-round emergency duty for oil spill response, escort operations, emergency towing, firefighting and environmental monitoring.”, - noted in the Finnish company.
The vessel is equipped with a diesel-electric plant with three azimuth propellers - one of the devices is located in the bow, the second in the stern and the third on the side in the stern of the hull. This solution ensures the efficient operation of the vessel when moving bow, stern and log. Rudder propellers with a total capacity of 7.5 MW also help in the work of Baltika. The rescue vessel has a double bottom, a continuous main deck and tween deck, and a forecastle. The superstructure with residential and service premises is located in the bow of the Baltika.
The vessel is capable of moving in even ice 1 m thick both bow and stern forward and at an angle, laying a channel up to 50 m wide in even ice 60 cm thick. For comparison, according to some reports, the diesel-electric icebreakers Moskva and St. 29 m. It is worth noting that Baltika's engines can run on fuel with a low sulfur content, which is especially important in terms of environmental efficiency.
“New oil spill collection principles have been applied on the vessel: a port is opened and oil is collected while the vessel is moving, and then oil is separated from water in special compartments using brush collectors and can be reloaded onto collection vessels”, - said Sergey Shishkin, head of the RS classification department. Such a system works even with significant sea waves.
The rest of the icebreaker's equipment, as noted in the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, also represents the most modern models that meet current and future requirements for safety, environmental and energy efficiency, and ergonomics. It is not for nothing that the Baltika is called a multifunctional vessel - it is capable of performing several tasks at once: icebreaking operations in ports and port areas, towing ships and floating objects, escort of ships, liquidation of emergency oil and oil products spills, fire fighting, environmental monitoring and emergency rescue operations. For this, the ship has all the necessary equipment: a helipad, a crane with a lifting capacity of 25 tons for carrying out cargo operations, equipment for collecting oil products and lowering / lifting a work boat.
The vessel was ordered by the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport of Russia. It's no secret that the order for the construction of "Baltika" was sent to the shipyard "Yantar". The plant signed the contract on November 9, 2011. The laying of the vessel took place on June 6, 2012. The Finnish shipyard Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Inc acted as a subcontractor of the plant. Thus, the Kaliningrad shipbuilders were engaged in the manufacture of hull blocks, and the Finns - in the formation of the hull, outfitting work and carried out tests.
Today, few can say that the project failed. Although, only shipyard workers and those specialists who were present at the tests saw it in action, and even then not in ice conditions. But it's still ahead. Next winter, all the "opponents" and "defenders" of the unusual project will be able to find out whether Baltika will cope with its "icebreaking" task or not. According to Sergei Shishkin: The real baptism of ice will take place during the next winter navigation in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, and we hope that the ship will confirm its design characteristics.”. As Igor Zubakov, project manager of R-70202, quoted by the press service of the Yantar plant, noted, the ship showed excellent running characteristics and high maneuverability during tests at sea, which means the customer will be satisfied.
The ship will be handed over to the customer in St. Petersburg. It is planned that the icebreaker will operate in the Baltic. However, among other things, the crew of the ship has yet to be prepared for work. “The Baltika is more difficult to manage than a conventional vessel and requires special training. Since large shipping companies express their interest in the project, a computer-assisted training model has already been created on the basis of the Helsinki Maritime Institute for future navigators of such vessels.”, - notes the head of the RS classification department.
In the end, I would like to note that it is possible that Baltika will not be the only asymmetric icebreaker. Moreover, as the company that developed the project said, there is certainly interest in this vessel. “Now this ship is talked about at every conference on the Arctic and maritime topics. Sea trials not only confirmed expectations, but also turned out to be better. Now it is very interesting to find out how the ship will behave in the ice,”- noted in the press service of "Aker Arktic".
Asymmetric icebreaker Baltika accepted into Russian fleet(PHOTO, VIDEO)
On February 20, 2015, a ceremony of raising the Russian flag took place on, speaking in the official language, the multifunctional rescue diesel-electric ship "Baltika". Why is Baltika unique? First, the asymmetrical body contour.
Secondly, the ability to go semi-sideways in the ice, which gives an almost twice as wide channel, 50 instead of 25 meters for a conventional icebreaker of similar dimensions. The 50-meter channel allows free passage for commercial ships. There is a second bridge for "oblique" movement.
The P-70202 project of an innovative icebreaker for oil spill response and rescue operations was developed by the Finnish company Aker Arctic Technology. The icebreaker was created in two stages. Laid down in June 2012 at Yantar in Kaliningrad, then, a year later, the main parts were transported to Finland to Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for assembly. The first tests took place at the beginning of 2014, and in May it was accepted by the state commission.
The icebreaker is equipped with special equipment for oil spill response, fire fighting, and environmental monitoring. It is capable of moving in flat ice 1 m thick. The length of the vessel is 76.4 m, width - 20.5 m, draft - 6.3 m, power of three diesel generators - 7.5 MW, speed - 14 knots, speed in flat ice 1 m thick - 3 knots. The total is 7.5 MW. Crew - 24 people, special personnel - 12 people, autonomy - 20 days (24 people).
somehow strangely associated with such a snow blower:
Rescue ship "Baltika" - asymmetry is not a vice
Baltika is not an ordinary project. Initially, when the construction of the ship had just begun, some spoke of it with some irony, mainly due to the fact that the term asymmetric was often confused with the word “curve” or “oblique”, which is not very close to the truth. And in fact, this asymmetry itself has become the hallmark of the project.
"A competition for the oblique captain has been announced"
(comment to Newsland news)
“And it will always be controlled by a “crooked” crew”
(comments to the news "VPK News")
“If the ship looks like a freak, then it will be operated - ugly! The lesson of "priests" did not go well (or maybe modern Internet designers have not heard anything about them).
(comment to the news "Korabel.ru")
To make fun of the design of the icebreaker, when photographs and videos appeared on the network, on which you can clearly see that the ship is not just another “myth”, but the most utter reality, gradually ceased. But shipbuilders and simply interested people found another reason to lament and make fun of the domestic ship industry. However, this is more likely not discontent and aggression, but an ordinary statement of fact with a slight degree of sadness and self-irony - they say, “Baltika”, although ours, was only built by the Finns. And no excuses about the supply of hull parts from domestic enterprises and the excessive workload of the shipyards of our country, advocating for Russian shipbuilding, can be pacified.
So, at the conference "Russian Shipbuilding", which was held in St. Petersburg in April 2014, the head of CJSC "TsNIIMF" Sergei Buyanov in his welcoming speech noted that the "Baltika" is certainly a unique ship of its kind, but still “I would like such ships to be built at our domestic factories”.
Rescue vessel "Baltika" / Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
But be that as it may, this is a topic for a separate discussion, and the new icebreaker is almost ready to work "one hundred percent". And those who were present at the sea trials could personally make sure that a slightly non-standard approach to design still became a kind of breakthrough.
And although the project has received its material embodiment only now, as we were told by Aker Arktic, which is the developer of the Baltika project, the idea of an asymmetric icebreaker was born in the late 90s, when the requirements for icebreaking support for the fleet of the Baltic Sea were analyzed.
By the end of 1996, the idea of creating a lagging icebreaker was developed, and in 1997 the first model tests of the ARC 100 project were carried out. “Later, a decision was made to build an oil terminal in Primorsk. At the same time, the idea came up to use the ship to deal with oil spills., the company said.
Further development work on the project continued in cooperation with the Finnish Maritime Administration, the Finnish Environmental Institute and ABB, with partial funding from the Finnish Technology Fund. As a result, the updated project was presented to the administrations of Finland and Russia in 2003. The Ministry of Transport of Russia made an order for the construction of the vessel when signing the contract in 2011.
In general, a ship like the Baltika could have been built even earlier. About this, when "Korabel" visited "Aker Arktic" (see the article "Shipbuilding in Finland. Part 2: "Aker Arctic" - "It is difficult to prove the advantages of an innovative approach"), said the sales director Arto Uuskallio: “We had the opportunity to implement this idea before, but the customer then at the last moment preferred the traditional concept of the ship. This is an advanced development, and conservative thinking is practiced in shipbuilding. It is difficult to prove the benefits of an innovative approach.”.
“In general, the emergence of such a project has become a kind of response to an increase in the number of tanker traffic in the Gulf of Finland”, - note in "Aker Arktic". The asymmetric icebreaker is a continuation of the tradition of using the stern-forward method of moving through ice on ships. In practice, Baltika, due to the fact that moving forward at an angle to the diametrical plane, makes a channel 50 meters wide, replaces the work of two icebreakers.
Aker Arktic has patented the idea of an asymmetrical ship hull. There are no analogues in the world, project developers note. And Baltika is the first ship built according to the ARC 100 project. “At the moment, the project has been expanded to the level of a reinforced version designed for harsher working conditions in the Arctic”, the company said.
| The main characteristics of the vessel "Baltika" | |
| length | 76.4 m |
| maximum width | 20.5 m |
| draft | 6.3 m |
| propulsion power | 7.5 MW |
| speed | 14 knots |
| speed in flat ice, 1.0 m thick | 3.0 knot |
| crew | 24 people |
| special staff | 12 people |
| autonomy | 20 days |
| RS class symbol | KM Icebreaker6 AUT1-ICS OMBO FF3WS EPP DYNPOS-1 ECO-S Oil recovery ship (>60°C)/ salvage ship/tug. |
“The secret of the uniqueness of the creation of the concept of the vessel lies in an integrated approach to solving problems. This is a multifunctional icebreaking vessel. It is well suited for year-round emergency duty for oil spill response, escort operations, emergency towing, firefighting and environmental monitoring.”, - noted in the Finnish company.
The vessel is equipped with a diesel-electric plant with three azimuth propellers - one of the devices is located in the bow, the second in the stern and the third on the side in the stern of the hull. This solution ensures the efficient operation of the vessel when moving bow, stern and log. Rudder propellers with a total capacity of 7.5 MW also help in the work of Baltika. The rescue vessel has a double bottom, a continuous main deck and tween deck, and a forecastle. The superstructure with residential and service premises is located in the bow of the Baltika.
The vessel is capable of moving in even ice 1 m thick both bow and stern forward and at an angle, laying a channel up to 50 m wide in even ice 60 cm thick. For comparison, according to some reports, the diesel-electric icebreakers Moskva and St. 29 m. It is worth noting that Baltika's engines can run on fuel with a low sulfur content, which is especially important in terms of environmental efficiency.
“New oil spill collection principles have been applied on the vessel: a port is opened and oil is collected while the vessel is moving, and then oil is separated from water in special compartments using brush collectors and can be reloaded onto collection vessels”, - said Sergey Shishkin, head of the RS classification department. Such a system works even with significant sea waves.
The rest of the icebreaker's equipment, as noted in the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, also represents the most modern models that meet current and future requirements for safety, environmental and energy efficiency, and ergonomics. It is not for nothing that the Baltika is called a multifunctional vessel - it is capable of performing several tasks at once: icebreaking operations in ports and port areas, towing ships and floating objects, escort of ships, liquidation of emergency oil and oil products spills, fire fighting, environmental monitoring and emergency rescue operations. For this, the ship has all the necessary equipment: a helipad, a crane with a lifting capacity of 25 tons for carrying out cargo operations, equipment for collecting oil products and lowering / lifting a work boat.
The vessel was ordered by the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport of Russia. It's no secret that the order for the construction of "Baltika" was sent to the shipyard "Yantar". The plant signed the contract on November 9, 2011. The laying of the vessel took place on June 6, 2012. The Finnish shipyard Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Inc acted as a subcontractor of the plant. Thus, the Kaliningrad shipbuilders were engaged in the manufacture of hull blocks, and the Finns - in the formation of the hull, outfitting work and carried out tests.
Today, few can say that the project failed. Although, only shipyard workers and those specialists who were present at the tests saw it in action, and even then not in ice conditions. But it's still ahead. Next winter, all the "opponents" and "defenders" of the unusual project will be able to find out whether Baltika will cope with its "icebreaking" task or not. According to Sergei Shishkin: The real baptism of ice will take place during the next winter navigation in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, and we hope that the ship will confirm its design characteristics.”. As Igor Zubakov, project manager of R-70202, quoted by the press service of the Yantar plant, noted, the ship showed excellent running characteristics and high maneuverability during tests at sea, which means the customer will be satisfied.
The ship will be handed over to the customer in St. Petersburg. It is planned that the icebreaker will operate in the Baltic. However, among other things, the crew of the ship has yet to be prepared for work. “The Baltika is more difficult to manage than a conventional vessel and requires special training. Since large shipping companies express their interest in the project, a computer-assisted training model has already been created on the basis of the Helsinki Maritime Institute for future navigators of such vessels.”, - notes the head of the RS classification department.
In the end, I would like to note that it is possible that Baltika will not be the only asymmetric icebreaker. Moreover, as the company that developed the project said, there is certainly interest in this vessel. “Now this ship is talked about at every conference on the Arctic and maritime topics. Sea trials not only confirmed expectations, but also turned out to be better. Now it is very interesting to find out how the ship will behave in the ice,”- noted in the press service of "Aker Arktic".
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