Steamer ''Tovarishch Stalin'' (''Comrade Stalin'') was a
Soviet freighter of about 3,100 tonnes displacement, active in the
Arctic during the 1930s.
In 1933 ''Tovarishch Stalin'', under Captain Sergeyev, took part in the first Soviet convoy to the mouth of the
Lena River
The Lena (russian: Ле́на, ; evn, Елюенэ, ''Eljune''; sah, Өлүөнэ, ''Ölüöne''; bua, Зүлхэ, ''Zülkhe''; mn, Зүлгэ, ''Zülge'') is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean ...
along with the steamers
''Pravda'' and
''Volodarskiy''. The convoy leader, Captain M. A. Sorokin, was on board ''Volodarskiy''. This convoy was led by the icebreaker ''
Krasin'' (Captain Ya. P. Legzdin).
On the way back, severe ice conditions in the
Vilkitsky Strait (between
Severnaya Zemlya and
Cape Chelyuskin), forced the three freighters to winter at Ostrov Samuila in the
Komsomolskoy Pravdy Islands
The Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands (russian: Острова Комсомольской Правды, ''Ostrova Komsomol'skoy Pravdy'') are an archipelago in the far north of the Russian Federation. The islands are uninhabited and are covered with tun ...
. A shore station was built and a full scientific programme maintained all winter by leader scientist
Nikolay Urvantsev and his wife, Dr. Yelizaveta Ivanovna, the expedition's medical officer.
These ships were released in the following year by
icebreaker ''Fyodor Litke'' after much effort to break a channel through the thick ice. Once freed, the freighters separated and ''Fyodor Litke'' escorted ''Tovarishch Stalin''. Both headed west through the Vilkitsky Strait towards
Arkhangelsk.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tovarishch Stalin
Arctic exploration vessels
Laptev Sea
Polar exploration by Russia and the Soviet Union
Ships of the Soviet Union