White Sea–Baltic Canal
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The White Sea–Baltic Canal (), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (), is a man-made
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 (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...
, in the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
, with
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...
, which is further connected to the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
. Until 1961, it was called by its original name: the
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
White Sea–Baltic Canal (''Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina''). The canal was constructed by forced labor of
gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
inmates. Beginning and ending with a labor force of 126,000, between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died according to official records,''Александр Кокурин, Юрий Моруков''. Сталинские стройки ГУЛАГа.1930–53, Москва, Материк 2005, — 568 с. — С. 34. while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths. The canal runs , partially along several canalized rivers and
Lake Vygozero Lake Vygozero (; ) 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 been a part of the White Sea–Baltic C ...
. As of 2008, it carries only light traffic of between ten to 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 First five-year plan may refer to: * First five-year plan (China) * First Five-Year Plans (Pakistan) * First five-year plan (Soviet Union) The first five-year plan (, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economi ...
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; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...
to the
White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...
, 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 (; ; Karelian and 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 largest l ...
(and its two locks) to reach
Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...
and then proceed down the
Neva River The Neva ( , ; , ) 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 is the fourth-l ...
to
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and the Baltic Sea. Alternatively, from Lake Onega river ships can sail eastward into the
Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...
.


Route

The canal begins near Povenets settlement in Povenets bay of
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...
. 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 (; ) 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 been a part of the White Sea–Baltic C ...
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 (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: History In the beginning it was a small village named ...
. The settlements of Povenets, Segezha, 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 In differential geometry, the radius of curvature, , is the reciprocal of the curvature. For a curve, it equals the radius of the circular arc which best approximates the curve at that point. For surfaces, the radius of curvature is the radius ...
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, showing the summit level of 100m between Lakes Onego and Vygozero.


Construction

The Soviet Union presented the canal as an example of the success of the
first five-year plan First five-year plan may refer to: * First five-year plan (China) * First Five-Year Plans (Pakistan) * First five-year plan (Soviet Union) The first five-year plan (, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economi ...
. Its construction was completed four months ahead of schedule, though it was too shallow for the planned use. The 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, or violence, including death or other forms of ...
. Belbaltlag, 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 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."


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 ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
GULAG The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
. *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, head of the
Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
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, Chief of Works, November 16, 1931, to the end of construction. * Lazar Kogan, chief of the BBK Construction Directorate *, deputy chief of the BBK Construction Directorate *, chief of WSBC, November 16, 1931 – January 16, 1932, also assistant chief of the BBK Construction Directorate
Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936. A ...
, Deputy Chairman of the
OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
, as well as Berman, Firin, Kogan, and Rappoport were awarded the
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
for the completion of the canal by the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
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%,V.N. Zemskov, ''"Zaklyuchyonnye v 1930-e gody: socialno-demograficheskiye problemy"'', p. 62 / В. Н. 3емсков «Заключенные в 1930-е годы: социально — демографические проблемы», стр. 62 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. There was an extensive system of incentives for prisoners in place. The food rations for prisoners who exceeded quotas were increased. Those who fulfilled and exceeded the norm (2.5 m³ per day for earthworks) received an increased bread ration (up to 1200 g), a bonus dish (for example, 75-gram pies with cabbage or potatoes), and a cash bonus. Moral incentives were also used: presenting the brigade or phalange with a Red Banner, declaring gratitude, presenting certificates, placing the names of shock workers on the honor board, as well as counting 3 working days for 5 days of work, and for shock workers - “a day in two”. 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. 12,300 workers died during the building process, according to the official records, including in 1931 - 1438 (2.24% of the number of workers), in 1932 - 2010 (2.03%), in 1933 - 8870 (10.56%), which was due to a reduction in supplies due to famine in the country and the rush before the completion of construction while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths.Anne Applebaum ''Gulag: A History'' (London: Penguin, 2003), p79


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 (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
,
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer whose works span across many genres, but mainly belonged to science fiction and historical fiction. Despite having opposed the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he was abl ...
,
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, who compiled a work in praise of the project, the 600-page '' The I.V. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal'' (), 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 British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
in 1929 and written about it in the Soviet journal ''Our Accomplishments,'' organized the White Sea trip, but did not himself join it. Also along on the White Sea trip was Nikolai Pogodin, screenwriter of ''
Convicts A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...
'', a 1936 comedy about the BeltBaltLag labor camp. 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 ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
chief Semyon Firin and Prince Mirsky 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 (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
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. Until 1936, all financial transactions of the Combine were exempt from taxes and duties. The BBK led to the development of
Belomorsk Belomorsk (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: History In the beginning it was a small village named ...
as a major industrial city. New cities and
urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...
s developed along the route of the canal, such as Medvezhyegorsk, Segezha, 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 was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...
of 1939–1940, when the USSR invaded Finland. With Germany's full-scale invasion of the USSR in 1941, supported by Finland in the
Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...
, the canal route became the front line. On June 23, 1941, the day after the German invasion, 16 Finnish
commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...
s were ferried to the canal by two German Heinkel He 115 seaplanes from
Oulujärvi Oulujärvi () or Lake Oulu or Ule (), is a large lake in the Kainuu region of Finland. It is also historically known as Lake Cajania from a former name of Kainuu.. With an area of it is the List of lakes of Finland, fifth largest lake in the cou ...
. 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 The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...
, 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 (; ) 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 been a part of the White Sea–Baltic C ...
. 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), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
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 The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...
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.


Canal use

During the first navigation in 1933, 1.143 million tons of cargo and 27.000 passengers were transported through the canal. In 1940 traffic volume was approximately 1 million tons, representing 44% of capacity 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 Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...
. 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 (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: History In the beginning it was a small village named ...
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). 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 ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
'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 pet ...
's Siberian Vankor Oil Field was delivered by the ''Amur-1516'' from Dzerzhinsk on the
Oka River The Oka (, ; ) 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 total length, ...
, via the
Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...
and the White Sea Canal to
Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...
, and from there by the ocean-going SA-15 class Arctic cargo ship ''Kapitan Danilkin'' to Dudinka on the
Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...
. In 2011, heavy equipment for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro power plant was shipped from
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
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 (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
to consumers in the
Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the northwestern part of the country, with a total land area of . Its only internal border is the Republic of Karelia to the south, and it is bor ...
and overseas. Russia's Volgotanker Company, with a fleet of suitably sized petroleum tankers 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 (bunker fuel), marine f ...
to the White Sea port of
Kandalaksha Kandalaksha () is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kandalaksha Gulf on the White Sea, north of the Arctic Circle. Population: 40,564 ( 2002 Census); Etymology According to the most common ...
. 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, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
n seagoing tankers at a floating transfer station near the Osinki Island in the
Onega Bay The Onega Bay () 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 gulfs of the White Sea, the others being the Dvina Bay, the Mez ...
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 th ...
age estimated at , of which only were recovered. Volgotanker's alleged failure to contain the spill resulted in the
Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...
authorities shutting down the oil transfer operation with only 220,000 tonnes exported. The company was fined and future operations were refused.


Military use

Soviet (and later Russian) 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 The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...
's first warships sailed along the canal to the White Sea from the Baltic, Before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...
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) () is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation today. It is located in Saint Petersburg in th ...
and Gorky's Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard sailed to the new
Sevmash JSC PO Sevmash () is a Russia, Russian joint-stock company (JSC) under the Vertical integration, vertically-integrated United Shipbuilding Corporation. The Shipyard, shipbuilding operations of Sevmash is in the port city of Severodvinsk on the Whi ...
shipyard in
Severodvinsk Severodvinsk (; ) 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 2021 Census, the population was 157,213. Due to the p ...
. 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 (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population: History In the beginning it was a small village named ...
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) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
, "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 (), 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, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
" or (member of a labor army). According to the Soviet account, in 1932 when
Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; , ; ; – 21 October 1978) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. As a member of th ...
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


See also

*
Volga–Don Canal Lenin Volga–Don Shipping Canal (Russian language, Russian: Волго-Донской судоходный канал имени, ''В. И. Ленина, Volga-Donskoy sudokhodniy kanal imeni V. I. Lenina'', abbreviated ВДСК, ''VDSK'') is a ...
* Unified Deep Water System of European Russia


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


"Belbaltlag, 1931-1941" Map of Memory (2016)Les eaux glacées du Belomorkanal
on Anne Brunswic's website, in French.

online exhibition ''Forced Labor Camps'' Blinken Open Society Archives
White Sea Canal
{{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