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The White Sea–Baltic Canal (russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, , ), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal () is a
ship canal A ship canal is a canal especially intended to accommodate ships used on the oceans, seas, or lakes to which it is connected. Definition Ship canals can be distinguished from barge canals, which are intended to carry barges and other vessel ...
in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
, in the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
, with
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Rep ...
, which is further connected to the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. Until 1961, it was called by its original name: the
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
White Sea–Baltic Canal (''Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina''). The canal was constructed by forced labor of
gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
inmates. Beginning and ending with a labor force of 126,000, between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died according to official records,Сталинские стройки ГУЛАГа.1930–53», Москва, 2005, while
Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at ''The Econo ...
's estimate is 25,000 deaths. The canal runs , partially along several canalized rivers and
Lake Vygozero Lake Vygozero (russian: Выгозеро; fi, Uikujärvi) is a large freshwater lake in the Republic of Karelia, in the northwestern part of Russia. It has an area of , and is part of the Vyg drainage in the White Sea basin. From 1933 it has ...
. As of 2008, it carries only light traffic of between ten and forty boats per day. Its economic advantages are limited by its minimal depth of , inadequate for most seagoing vessels. This depth typically corresponds to river craft with deadweight cargo up to 600 tonnes, while useful seagoing vessels of 2,000–3,000  dwt typically have drafts of . The canal was originally proposed to be deep; however, the cost and time constraints of Stalin's
first five-year plan The first five-year plan (russian: I пятилетний план, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in ...
forced the much shallower draught.


Waterway

The total length of the waterway is , of which are man-made. The current flows north from
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Rep ...
to the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
, and all navigation marks are set according to it. Once in Lake Onega, ships can exit the southwest shore through the
Svir River The Svir (, Veps: , Karelian/ Finnish: ) is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two larg ...
(and its two locks) to reach Lake Ladoga and then proceed down the
Neva River The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
to
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and the Baltic Sea. Alternatively, from Lake Onega river ships can sail eastward into the
Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (Volgobalt, Волгобалт), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Balt ...
.


Route

The canal begins near Povenets settlement in Povenets bay of
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Rep ...
. After Povenets there are seven locks close together, forming the "Stairs of Povenets". These locks are the southern slope of the canal. The canal summit pond at 103 m elevation is long between locks 7 & 8. The northern slope has twelve locks numbered 8–19. The route of the northern slope runs through five large lakes; Lake Matkozero between locks 8 & 9,
Lake Vygozero Lake Vygozero (russian: Выгозеро; fi, Uikujärvi) is a large freshwater lake in the Republic of Karelia, in the northwestern part of Russia. It has an area of , and is part of the Vyg drainage in the White Sea basin. From 1933 it has ...
between locks 9 & 10, Lake Palagorka between locks 10 & 11, Lake Voitskoye between locks 11 & 12 and Lake Matkozhnya between locks 13 & 14. The canal empties out into the Soroka Bay of the White Sea at
Belomorsk Belomorsk (russian: Беломо́рск; krl, Šuomua; fi, Belomorsk/') is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: ...
. The settlements of Povenets,
Segezha Segezha (russian: Сеге́жа; krl, Segeža; fi, Sekehe) is a town and the administrative center of Segezhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located north of Petrozavodsk on the Segezha River and on the western shore of Lak ...
, Nadvoitsy, Sosnovets, and Belomorsk are located along the canal.


Sailing conditions

Minimum lock dimensions are wide by long. The navigable channel is wide and deep, with a radius of curvature of . Speed is limited to in all artificial portions. In conditions of low visibility (less than one km) navigation is halted. For the navigation seasons of 2008 to 2010, the canal locks were scheduled to operate from 20 May to 15–30 October, giving 148–163 navigation days per year.


Profile

The following illustration depicts the profile of the White Sea–Baltic Canal. The horizontal axis is the length of the canal. The vertical axis is the elevation of the canal segments above mean sea level.


Construction

The
Soviet Union 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 ...
presented the canal as an example of the success of the
first five-year plan The first five-year plan (russian: I пятилетний план, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in ...
. Its construction was completed four months ahead of schedule, though it was entirely too shallow for the planned use. The entire canal was constructed in twenty months, between 1931 and 1933, almost entirely by manual labor. The canal was the first major project constructed in the Soviet Union using
forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of e ...
. BBLAG, the Directorate of the BBK Camps, managed the construction, supplying a workforce of an estimated 100,000 convicts, at the cost of huge casualties. Although prison labor camps were usually kept secret, the White Sea Canal was a propaganda showcase of convicts "reforging" themselves in useful labor (Soviet concept of ''perekovka'', reforging or rehabilitation).
Marshall Berman Marshall Howard Berman (November 23, 1940–September 11, 2013) was an American philosopher and Marxist humanist writer. He was a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York and at the Graduate Center of the City ...
states that "The canal was a triumph of publicity; but if half the care that went into the public relations campaign had been devoted to the work itself, there would have been far fewer victims and far more development." In particular, he emphasizes that politics and public relations ruined the usefulness of the canal:


Organization and management

The workforce for the Canal was supplied by the Belbaltlag camp directorate (White Sea–Baltic Corrective Labor Camp Directorate, WSBC) of the
OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
GULAG The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
. *P. F. Aleksandrov (П. Ф. Александров), acting chief of WSBC, January 16, 1932, full chief from March 28, 1932, to at least January 15, 1933 *
Matvei Berman Matvei Davidovich Berman (Russian: Матвей Давыдович Берман; April 10, 1898 – March 7, 1939) was a Soviet security officer and head of the Gulag Soviet prison camp system from 1932 to 1937.Khlevniuk, p. 346 Biography ...
, head of the
Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
during most of the 1930s, direct supervisor of FirinRuder, p. 21 * Semyon Firin, Chief of Construction, also mentioned in 1933 documents as chief of WSBC *
Naftaly Frenkel Naftaly Aronovich Frenkel (russian: Нафталий Аронович Френкель; 1883 in Haifa – 1960 in Moscow) was a Soviet security officer and member of the Soviet secret police. Frenkel is best known for his role in the organisatio ...
, Chief of Works, November 16, 1931 to the end of construction. * Lazar Kogan, chief of the BBK Construction Directorate *Yakov D. Rapoport ( :ru:Рапопорт, Яков Давидович), deputy chief of the BBK Construction Directorate *E.I. Senkevich (Э. И. Сенкевич), chief of WSBC, November 16, 1931 – January 16, 1932, also assistant chief of the BBK Construction Directorate
Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda ( rus, Ге́нрих Григо́рьевич Яго́да, Genrikh Grigor'yevich Yagoda, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director ...
, Deputy Chairman of the
OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
, as well as Berman, Firin, Kogan, and Rappoport were awarded the
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...
for the completion of the canal by the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
on July 15, 1933.


Working conditions

The Soviets portrayed the project as evidence of the efficiency of the Gulag. Supposedly "reforging class enemies" (political prisoners) through "corrective labor", the working conditions at the BBK Camp were brutal, with the prisoners given only primitive hand tools to carry out the massive construction project. The mortality rate was about 8.7%, with many more sick and disabled. The workforce was organized into brigades of 25–30, which made up phalanges of 250–300. There were norms for labor, for example of hand-dug stone per day per brigade. At other times these teams were pitted to compete against each other in surpassing the norms, and promises were made of shortened sentences, food and cash bonuses for the champions. After the successful construction, 12,484 prisoners were freed as reward, and 59,516 prison terms were shortened. At least 12,000 workers died during the building process, according to the official records, while
Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at ''The Econo ...
's estimate is 25,000 deaths,Anne Applebaum ''Gulag: A History'' (London: Penguin, 2003), p79 and
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repres ...
estimated up to 250,000 deaths.


The canal and Russian writers

A carefully prepared visit in August 1933 to the White Sea–Baltic Canal may have hidden the worst of the brutality from a group of 120 Russian writers and artists, the so-called Writers Brigade, including
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
,
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (russian: link= no, Алексей Николаевич Толстой; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels. Despite having ...
,
Viktor Shklovsky Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky ( rus, Ви́ктор Бори́сович Шкло́вский, p=ˈʂklofskʲɪj; – 6 December 1984) was a Russian and Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer. He is one of the major figures asso ...
, and
Mikhail Zoshchenko Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Зо́щенко; – 22 July 1958) was a Soviet and Russian writer and satirist. Biography Zoshchenko was born in 1894, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, according to h ...
, who compiled a work in praise of the project, the 600-page '' The I.V. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal'' (russian: Беломорско-Балтийский канал имени Сталина), published at the end of 1934. Shklovsky visited the White Sea Canal on his own rather than with the group. Gorky, who had previously visited the Solovetski Islands
labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...
in 1929 and written about it in the Soviet journal ''Our Accomplishments,'' organized the White Sea trip, but did not himself join it. It is likely that at least some of the visiting writers were aware of the brutality of camp life. In fact, one of the contributors, Sergei Alymov, was a prisoner at the camp and editor of the camp newspaper ''Perekovka'' ("Reforging"). Similarly, Aleksandr Avdeenko's account of Belomor includes conversations between
OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
chief Semyon Firin and
Prince Mirsky D. S. Mirsky is the English pen-name of Dmitry Petrovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (russian: Дми́трий Петро́вич Святопо́лк-Ми́рский), often known as Prince Mirsky ( – c. 7 June 1939), a Russian political and lit ...
that reveal at least some of the writers were aware of its true nature.


History of usage


In 1930s

After the canal had been completed and opened for navigation, the Belbaltlag (White Sea-Baltic Camp) was reorganized into the White Sea-Baltic Combine (Baltiysko-Belomorsky Kombinat BK, still within the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
system, by an order of the Council of People's Commissars of August 17, 1933. The Combine was charged with operating the canal and managing the economic development of the adjacent areas, including 2.8 million hectares of forest lands and the industrial facilities that had been constructed along the route."History of Karelia from antiquity to our time", editors: N.A. Korablev, V.G.Makurov, Yu.A.Savvateev, M.I.Shumilov; Petrozavodsk, Periodika Publishers, 2001. 944 pages. (История Карелии с древнейших времён до наших дней / Науч. ред. Н. А. Кораблёв, В. Г. Макуров, Ю. А. Савватеев, М. И. Шумилов — Петрозаводск: Периодика, 2001. — 944 с.: ил.) A major part of the Combine's workforce consisted of 75-85,000 Belbaltlag prisoners. In addition, the Combine included 21 "special settlements" (''spetsposyolok'') with some 30,000 residents, mostly dispossessed farm families transported to Karelia from the USSR's warmer regions. In addition to convicts and "special settlers", the Combine employed about 4,500 free employees and a paramilitary security force. In all, the Combine's employees accounted for about 25% of the population of the
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...
. Until 1936, all financial transactions of the Combine were exempt from taxes and duties. The BBK led to the development of
Belomorsk Belomorsk (russian: Беломо́рск; krl, Šuomua; fi, Belomorsk/') is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: ...
as a major industrial city. New cities and
urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...
s developed along the route of the canal, such as
Medvezhyegorsk Medvezhyegorsk (russian: Медвежьего́рск; krl, Karhumägi; fi, Karhumäki) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959). History A village i ...
,
Segezha Segezha (russian: Сеге́жа; krl, Segeža; fi, Sekehe) is a town and the administrative center of Segezhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located north of Petrozavodsk on the Segezha River and on the western shore of Lak ...
, Nadvoitsy. Povenets, which had been demoted from a town to a village in the 1920s, now became a town again, and a large port. As is discussed further below, during the 1930s a number of smaller naval vessels were transferred from the Baltic to the White Sea to provide warships for the Soviet Northern Naval Flotilla, which became the Northern Fleet in 1937.


In World War II

There was no action near the White Sea–Baltic Canal during the
Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
of 1939-1940, when the USSR invaded
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Both ...
. With Germany's full-scale invasion of the USSR in 1941, supported by Finland in the Continuation War, the canal route became the front line. On June 23, 1941, the day after the German invasion, 16 Finnish
commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
s were ferried to the canal by two German
Heinkel He 115 The Heinkel He 115 was a three-seat World War II ''Luftwaffe'' seaplane. It was used as a torpedo bomber and performed general seaplane duties, such as reconnaissance and minelaying. The aircraft was powered by two 960 PS (947 hp, 720& ...
seaplanes from
Oulujärvi Oulujärvi (; sv, Ule träsk; also known as Lake Oulu) is a large lake in the Kainuu region of Finland. With an area of it is the fifth largest lake in the country. The lake is drained by the Oulu River, which flows northwestward from the lake ...
. The commandos were Finnish volunteers recruited by the German Major Schaller, and were equipped with German uniforms and weapons, as the Finnish General Staff wanted no responsibility for the operation. The commandos were to blow up the canal locks, but they failed due to heightened security. On June 28, the canal was bombed for the first time by the
Finnish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = 159 , equipment_label ...
, targeting Locks No. 6, 7, 8, and 9, followed the next day by Finnish troops advancing along the Finland-USSR border. The air bombings of the Povenets lock ladder succeeded in interrupting boat traffic on the canal only from June 28 to August 6, and then again from 13 to 24 August 1941. On August 28, the fifth and final bombing raid of the 1941 navigation season took place against Lock No. 7, but it did no damage. In August, the management of the BBK and most of the 800 canal staff were evacuated from Medvezhyegorsk to Lock No. 19 in Belomorsk, with only 80 left at their stations. In November, a caravan of passenger vessels evacuating families of Povenets canal workers and residents, along with equipment, froze into the ice of
Lake Vygozero Lake Vygozero (russian: Выгозеро; fi, Uikujärvi) is a large freshwater lake in the Republic of Karelia, in the northwestern part of Russia. It has an area of , and is part of the Vyg drainage in the White Sea basin. From 1933 it has ...
. On the night of November 12/13, another boat caravan froze in Zaonezhsky Bay near Megostrov Island, and was later captured by Finnish troops. On December 5, Finnish troops entered Medvezhyegorsk. On December 6 in a -37 °C frost, Finnish troops captured Povenets, the southern entrance to the BBK. On the same day, Soviet troops started demolishing canal structures. Lock No. 1 was the first to be blown up. By the morning of December 8, Locks No 1 to 6, and dams No. 4 and 20 had all been demolished. At the same time, heavy fighting took place near the Povenets Lock Ladder (Locks No. 1 to 7). The Finns crossed the canal and captured Gabselga village to the east, but after a few days of fighting they were pushed back to the canal's western side. Soviet sappers blew up Lock No. 7 on December 11 after the Red Army had retreated. Once the locks of the Povenets Ladder had been destroyed, water from the watershed lakes poured freely into Lake Onega through Povenets village, which was nearly completely destroyed by the flood. The route of the BBK had become the front line, separating the Finnish troops on the canal's western bank from the Soviet forces on its eastern bank. The opposing armies held these positions until June 1944.


Postwar years

After Finland left the war in September 1944, the damage to the canal, including the complete destruction of its southern section and the town of Povenets and damage to lighthouses and other structures, was repaired. Rebuilding was completed by July 1946, with navigation through the canal restored on July 28, 1946. On February 2, 1950, the
RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
Council of Ministers issued an order for the overhaul and reconstruction of the BBK's structures, with gradual electrification of the canal's structures and machinery. In 1953, the locks' staff hired electricians; by 1957, the electrification of the locks of the northern slope was completed; and by 1959 all coastal and floating navigation lights were switched to electric power. The importance of BBK for the national economy greatly increased after the commissioning of the modern Volga-Baltic Waterway in 1964. Canal capacity and the annual volume of freight traffic increased several-fold. Another upgrade took place in the 1970s. During the reconstruction, the guaranteed depth of the fairway was increased to 4 meters, and the channel became part of the
Unified Deep Water System of European Russia The Unified Deep Water System of European Russia (russian: Единая глубоководная система Европейской части Российской Федерации, translit=Yedinaya glubokovodnaya sistema Yevropeyskoy chast ...
.


Canal use

Cargo tonnage peaked in 1985, with 7.3 million tonnes transported. Tonnage remained high until 1990, then declined after the
fall of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. Usage rose gradually in the 21st century, but remained well below the Soviet-era peak, with just 0.3 million tonnes in 2002. During the 2007 season, the canal carried 0.4 million tonnes of cargo along with 2,500 passengers. It is now operated by the White Sea and Lake Onega Waterways and Shipping Administration (Беломорско-Онежское государственное бассейновое управление водных путей и судоходства), which is also responsible for shipping on Lake Onega and in the
Belomorsk Belomorsk (russian: Беломо́рск; krl, Šuomua; fi, Belomorsk/') is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: ...
harbor area (but not in the open waters of the White Sea). The canal was seemingly a small part of the agency's overall shipping business, which in 2007 amounted to 4.6 million tonnes and 155,000 passengers. According to official statistics, a total of 193 million tonnes of cargo was transported over the canal over its first 75 years (1933–2008).75 лет ББК
(75 Years of the White Sea–Baltic Canal) (Government of Karelia Official Site, 2008-08-07)
The canal makes it possible to ship heavy and bulky items from Russia's industrial centers to the White Sea, and then by sea-going vessels to
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
's northern ports. For example, in the summer of 2007, a large piece of equipment for
Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petro ...
's Siberian Vankor Oil Field was delivered by the ''Amur-1516'' from Dzerzhinsk on the
Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...
, via the
Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (Volgobalt, Волгобалт), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Balt ...
and the White Sea Canal to
Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near i ...
, and from there by the ocean-going SA-15 class Arctic cargo ship ''Kapitan Danilkin'' to
Dudinka Dudinka (russian: Дуди́нка; Nenets: Тут'ын, ''Tutꜧyn'') is a town on the Yenisei River and the administrative center of Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It used to be the administrative center of Ta ...
on the
Yenisei River The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук ...
. In 2011, heavy equipment for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro power plant was shipped from
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
via the canal, the Arctic Sea, and the Yenisei River.


Oil product shipping

In Soviet times, the canal was used for shipping oil products from refineries on the
Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...
to consumers in the
Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of ...
and overseas. Russia's
Volgotanker Volgotanker (russian: ОАО «Волжское нефтеналивное пароходство „Волгота́нкер“», '"Volgotanker" Volga Oil Tanker Shipping JSC') is a Russian company engaged in the business of tank storage,transpo ...
Company, with a fleet of suitably sized
petroleum tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
s and
ore-bulk-oil carrier An ore-bulk-oil carrier, also known as combination carrier or OBO, is a ship designed to be capable of carrying wet or dry cargoes. The idea is to reduce the number of empty (ballast) voyages, in which large ships only carry a cargo one way and re ...
s, pioneered this route starting August 1970, when ''Nefterudovoz-3'' delivered a cargo of
fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
to the White Sea port of
Kandalaksha Kandalaksha (russian: Кандала́кша; fi, Kantalahti, also ''Kandalax'' or ''Candalax'' in the old maps; krl, Kannanlakši; sms, Käddluhtt) is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kanda ...
.Alexei Bambulyak, Bjorn Franzen
Transportation of oil from the Russian part of the Barents Sea region, as of January 2005
After many years of interruption, Volgotanker resumed the canal route in 2003. The company had plans to carry 800,000 tonnes of fuel oil over the canal during 2003, and to increase the volume to in 2004. The fuel was transferred from Volgotanker river tankers to
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
n seagoing tankers at a floating transfer station near the Osinki Island in the
Onega Bay The Onega Bay (russian: Онежская губа, Онежский залив) is located in the Republic of Karelia and Arkhangelsk Oblast in Northwestern Russia, west of the city of Arkhangelsk. It is the southernmost of four large bays and g ...
on the White Sea, northwest of the port of Onega. Transfer operations began 24 June 2003, but on 1 September a low-speed collision between Volgotanker's ''Nefterudovoz-57M'' and the Latvian ''Zoja-I'' during a transfer caused a crack in the ''Nefterudovoz's'' hull, with a subsequent
oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...
age estimated at , of which only were recovered. Volgotanker's alleged failure to contain the spill resulted in the
Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast (russian: Арха́нгельская о́бласть, ''Arkhangelskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solov ...
authorities shutting down the oil transfer operation with only 220,000 tonnes exported. The company was fined and future operations were refused.


Military use

Russian (and later Soviet) naval strategists long believed that a well-designed canal system could help establish contact among the separate fleets based on Russia's Black Sea, Baltic, Arctic, Pacific, and Caspian coasts. The White Sea Canal was also constructed with this military use in mind, and early in its history the
Northern Fleet Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...
's first warships sailed along the canal to the White Sea from the Baltic, Before World War II, the canal was used for the transfer of military vessels between the two seas on 17 occasions. During World War II, in August–September 1941, the canal was used to move a number of
submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
from the Baltic Fleet to the White Sea, including submarines K-3, S-101 and S-102, L-22. Some unfinished submarines from Leningrad's
Baltic Shipyard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) (russian: Балтийский завод имени С. Орджоникидзе) is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of ...
and Gorky's
Krasnoye Sormovo Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard No. 112 named after Andrei Zhdanov (russian: Судостроительное предприятие "Кра́сное Со́рмово" имени А. А. Жданова) is one of the oldest shipbuilding factories ...
shipyard sailed to the new
Sevmash JSC PO Sevmash ( rus, ОАО «ПО „Севмаш“», Севмаш, СМПСМП, "Severodvinsk Machine Building Plant") is a Russian joint-stock company (JSC) under the vertically-integrated United Shipbuilding Corporation. The shipbuilding ...
shipyard in
Severodvinsk Severodvinsk ( rus, Северодвинск, p=sʲɪvʲɪrɐdˈvʲinsk) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the ...
. Since then, the canal has been regularly used for delivering submarines by transporter dock from the Baltic Shipyard and Krasnoye Sormovo to Sevmash for completion.


Hydroelectric stations

The canal system includes five hydroelectric power plants with total production capacity of 240 MW.


Commemoration

The canal gave its name to the Belomorkanal Soviet cigarette brand. There is a monument at Povenets for the prisoners who perished during the construction, and a smaller memorial in
Belomorsk Belomorsk (russian: Беломо́рск; krl, Šuomua; fi, Belomorsk/') is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: ...
near the White Sea end. There was even a comedic play written about the canal by Nikolay Pogodin. The canal project also gave the Russian language the slang word "''zeka''", "''zek'', ''z/k''" for "inmate". In
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
, "inmate", "incarcerated" is (), usually abbreviated to "" in paperwork, and pronounced as "" (, "zeh-KA"), which gradually transformed into "" and "", ''zek'' (both pronounced as ). The word is still in colloquial use. Originally the abbreviation stood for (russian: заключённый каналоармеец), literally "incarcerated canal-army-man". The latter term coined in an analogy with the words meaning "member of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
" or (member of a
labor army The notion of the Labor army (трудовая армия, трудармия) was introduced in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War in 1920. Initially the term was applied to regiments of Red Army transferred from military activity to lab ...
). According to the Soviet account, in 1932 when
Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; hy, Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Armenian Communist revolutionary, Old Bolshevik an ...
visited the ''Belomorstroy'' construction site, Lazar Kogan asked, "Comrade Mikoyan, what shall we call them? (…) I thought up the word: . What do you think?" Mikoyan approved."White Sea Baltic Canal named after Stalin. The History of the Construction" (. / ) Moscow, 1934, p. 138


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * *


See also

*
Volga–Don Canal Lenin Volga–Don Shipping Canal (Russian:Волго-Донской судоходный канал имени, ''В. И. Ленина, Volga-Donskoy soudokhodniy kanal imeni V. I. Lenina'', abbreviated ВДСК, ''VDSK'') is a ship canal in Rus ...
*
Unified Deep Water System of European Russia The Unified Deep Water System of European Russia (russian: Единая глубоководная система Европейской части Российской Федерации, translit=Yedinaya glubokovodnaya sistema Yevropeyskoy chast ...


External links


White Sea Canal
at the online exhibition ''Forced Labor Camps'' by
Blinken Open Society Archives Blinken Open Society Archives (abbreviated as Blinken OSA) is an archival repository and laboratory that aims to explore new ways of assessing, contextualizing, presenting, and making use of archival documents both in a professional and a conscio ...

Les eaux glacées du Belomorkanal
on Anne Brunswic's website, in French. {{DEFAULTSORT:White Sea - Baltic Canal Canals opened in 1933 Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Architecture in the Soviet Union Canals in Russia Gulag industry Ship canals White Sea CWhite Sea-Baltic Canal CWhite Sea-Baltic Canal 1933 establishments in the Soviet Union