''Krišjānis Valdemārs'' was an

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Republic of Latvia from 1926 to 1941. It was designed to clear shipping lanes from the ice in the freezing port of Riga, but was also used for escorting the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and members of the government on foreign visits.

Description

It had a tonnage of . The vessel long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . The ship had an engine rated at . The maximum speed of the vessel in free water was and in hard, smooth ice, .

History

The ship was ordered in 1924–1925 by the Latvian government and built at

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Shipyard. The icebreaker was given the name of the spiritual leader of

The First Latvian National Awakening The First Latvian National Awakening or the First Awakening ( lv, Pirmā Atmoda) was a cultural and national revival movement between 1850 and 1880 among the Young Latvians, a group of well-educated Latvians, who, opposed to the Baltic German dom ...

and the most prominent member of the Young Latvians movement

Krišjānis Valdemārs Krišjānis Valdemārs (in Germanized spelling as Christian Waldemar or Woldemar) (2 December 1825 at Vecjunkuri in Ārlava parish (now Valdgale parish, Courland, Latvia) – 7 December 1891 in Moscow, Russia) was a writer, editor, educator, poli ...

(1825–1891). ''Krišjānis Valdemārs'' sailed on January 13, 1926 on its first voyage from the port of Riga. The first captain of the icebreaker was Kārlis Cērpe (1875–1931). After his death Captain Fricis Veidners (1883–1942) and Pēteris Maurītis (1887–?) succeeded in command. After the

Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and its Secret Additional Protocol signed in ...

the ship was nationalized. At the end of August 1941 ''Krišjānis Valdemārs'' took part in

Soviet evacuation of Tallinn The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

, but struck a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

on August 28 and sunk. ''Krišjānis Valdemārs'', loaded with cargo, was bombed and sunk in the Gulf of Finland by

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

aircraft of

Kampfgeschwader 77 ''Kampfgeschwader 77'' (KG 77) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. Its units participated on all of the major fronts in the European Theatre until its dissolution in 1944. It operated all three of the major German bomber types; the ...

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Finding the wreck

In 2011,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n submarine archaeologist Vello Mäss was able to identify the wreck of ''Krišjānis Valdemārs'' at a depth of about by submerged filming in the Gulf of Finland near Mohni Island near Juminda Cape.
Kuģa Krišjānis Valdemārs vraks atrasts Somu jūras līcī
daivings.lv

References

{{Icebreakers of Latvia Ships of Latvia Icebreakers of Latvia Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Finland Ships sunk by mines World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea Icebreakers of the Soviet Union Ships built in Glasgow Royal and presidential yachts

Description

History

Finding the wreck

See also

References