Dikson (icebreaker)

''Dikson'' (russian: Диксон) is a Russian icebreaker and the final vessel in a series of three subarctic icebreakers built at Wärtsilä Helsinki shipyard in Finland in 1982–1983. The vessel's sister ships are ''Mudyug'' (rebuilt in 1986) and ''Magadan''.

Design

''Dikson''s hull is long overall and has a beam of at its widest point. However, the towing notch increases the extreme length of the vessel to while the inclined sides reduce the hull width to at the design waterline. When loaded to the maximum draught of , the icebreaker has a displacement of . The vessel's ice class, LL4, is intended for icebreaking operations primarily in ports and coastal areas. The maximum thickness of the shell plating in the bow region is .

Unlike most icebreakers, ''Dikson'' has a diesel-mechanical propulsion system where the vessel's four 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 8R32 medium-speed main engines are coupled in pairs through Lohmann & Stolterfoht Navilus twin-input/single-output single-stage reduction gearboxes to propeller shafts driving four-bladed stainless steel KaMeWa controllable pitch propellers. In order to protect the main engines from large torque variations during icebreaking operations and to prevent the propellers from stopping when the blades come in contact with ice, each shaft has a flywheel to increase rotational inertia of the drivetrain. The vessel's icebreaking capability is further increased by a Wärtsilä Air Bubbling System (WABS) lubricating the hull as well as an active heeling system. Onboard electrical power is generated by three Wärtsilä-Vasa 624TS auxiliary diesel engines with 960 kVA alternators.

''Dikson''s bollard pull is when operating with a continuous propulsion power of . However, for short-term operation the icebreaker can use its maximum shaft output of to generate a bollard pull of . The vessel has a service speed of in open water and maintain a continuous speed of when breaking thick level ice.

History

Development and construction

In 1977, Wärtsilä began developing a new icebreaker concept in close co-operation with experts from the Soviet Union. Although the Finnish shipbuilder had delivered more icebreaking vessels than any other shipyard in the world, they had all been diesel-electric vessels where diesel generators powered electric propulsion motors driving fixed-pitch propellers. In the new icebreakers, this fairly expensive specialized drivetrain would be replaced with cheaper and more efficient mechanical transmission where the main diesel engines would be connected to controllable pitch propellers through a reduction gearbox. An extensive research program was initiated by Wärtsilä Arctic Design and Marketing (WADAM) to ensure that the new concept was viable and that the problems encountered the recently commissioned United States Coast Guard Polar-class icebreakers would be avoided.

In April 1980, Wärtsilä and the Soviet Union signed a FIM 400 million shipbuilding contract for the construction of three icebreakers to escort ships in the freezing subarctic ports. The vessels, first of which would be delivered in late 1982 and the two following ones in 1983, would be stationed in the Barents Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and Baltic Sea.

''Dikson'', the third and final ''Mudyug''-class icebreaker, was laid down at Hietalahti shipyard at the same time with the second vessel of the series, ''Magadan'' on 6 January 1981, and launched on 9 July 1982. The vessel was delivered on 17 March 1983.

Career

While originally designed primarily for subarctic waters, ''Dikson'' was handed to the Murmansk Shipping Company and initially sent to its namesake port in the Kara Sea to escort ships transporting ore from Dudinka along the Yenisei river. In 1986, the icebreaker was transferred to Northern Shipping Company and moved to Arkhangelsk in the White Sea. In 2006, ''Dikson'' was transferred to Rosmorport, the executive body that manages state property and helps transport ships. The ''Dikson'' remains in service .

Notable events

''Dikson'' was one of the numerous icebreakers involved in the shipping crisis in the Soviet Eastern Arctic where unprecedented ice conditions caused a major disturbance to shipping at the end of the 1983 navigating season.

In 2012, ''Dikson'' was used to conduct seismic mapping in the Barents Sea. For this purpose, the icebreaker was fitted with a streamer and associated equipment in Norway.

In 2019, ''Dikson'' towed the floating nuclear power plant ''Akademik Lomonosov'' to Pevek. The convoy left Murmansk on 23 August and sailed along the Northern Sea Route until arriving to its destination on 10 September ahead of schedule.

In 2022, ''Dikson'' joined the ''Arktika'', ''Polar King'', ''Inzhenier Trubin'', ''Sevmorput'', and '' Kapitan Dranitsyn'' to deliver a copper mining project's construction materials in the town of Pevek. ''Arktika'' escorted the rest of the ships in the fleet into the Barents Sea in late February.

References

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Icebreakers of Russia
Icebreakers of the Soviet Union
Ships built in Helsinki
1982 ships