Leningrad (2028 icebreaker)

History
Russia
Name	Leningrad (Ленинград)
Namesake	Siege of Leningrad
Operator	FSUE Atomflot
Ordered	2 February 2023[1]
Builder	Baltic Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
Yard number	05713[2]
Laid down	26 January 2024[3]
Completed	December 2028 (planned)[1]
Identification	IMO number: 1022952[4]
Status	Under construction
General characteristics [5][6]
Class and type	Project 22220 icebreaker
Displacement	33,530 t (33,000 long tons) (dwl) 25,540 t (25,140 long tons) (minimum)
Length	173.3 m (569 ft) (overall) 160.0 m (525 ft) (dwl)
Beam	34 m (112 ft) (maximum) 33 m (108 ft) (dwl)
Height	51.25 m (168 ft)[7]
Draft	10.5 m (34 ft) (dwl) 9.00 m (30 ft) (minimum; achievable)[8] 8.65 m (28 ft) (minimum; official) 8.50 m (28 ft) (minimum; design)
Depth	15.2 m (50 ft)
Ice class	RMRS Icebreaker9
Installed power	Two RITM-200 nuclear reactors (2 × 175 MWt) Two turbogenerators (2 × 36 MWe)
Propulsion	Nuclear-turbo-electric Three shafts (3 × 20 MW)
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) 1.5–2 knots (2.8–3.7 km/h; 1.7–2.3 mph) in 2.8 m (9 ft) ice
Endurance	7 years (reactor fuel) 6 months (provisions)[9]
Crew	75
Aviation facilities	Helideck and hangar

Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) is a Russian Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreaker currently under construction at Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg.

Development and construction

Background

Main article: Project 22220 icebreaker § Development

In the late 1980s,^[10] the Russian research institutes and design bureaus developed a successor for the 1970s Arktika-class nuclear-powered icebreakers as part of a wider icebreaker fleet renewal program initiated shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.^[11] The new 60-megawatt icebreaker, referred to using a type size series designation LK-60Ya,^{[note 1]} would feature a so-called dual-draft functionality which would allow the vessel to operate in shallow coastal areas after de-ballasting.^[12] Although the preliminary designs had been developed almost two decades earlier, the LK-60Ya design was finalized in 2009 as Project 22220 by Central Design Bureau "Iceberg"^[13] and the construction of the first vessel was awarded to Saint Petersburg-based Baltic Shipyard in August 2012.^[14] Three additional contracts in May 2014, August 2019 and February 2023 have increased the number of Project 22220 icebreakers under construction or on order to seven.^[1][15][16]

Construction

On 2 February 2023, FSUE Atomflot signed a contract for the construction of two additional Project 22220 icebreakers with Baltic Shipyard.^[1]

The keel of the sixth Project 22220 icebreaker was laid on 26 January 2024.^[3] The vessel was initially to be named Kamchatka (Russian: Камчатка) after the Kamchatka Peninsula,^[17] but in November 2023 it was announced that instead it would be named Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) to commemorate the Siege of Leningrad.^[18] It is the second Russian icebreaker to bear the name; the previous Leningrad was a Moskva-class diesel-electric polar icebreaker built in 1961 and decommissioned in 1993. Unlike the new nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Soviet-era vessel was named after the city itself.^[19][20]

Whereas the preceding Project 22220 icebreakers have featured Atomflot's standard livery of dark blue hull and generally light blue superstructure with three decks painted after the flag of Russia, the artist's impression for the sixth vessel featured a new painting scheme: red hull with blue and white stripes at the upper deck edge, and a generally white superstructure with front bulkhead adorned with a blue-white silhouette of Leningrad under siege.^[3]

Leningrad's delivery is scheduled for December 2028.^[1]

Design

Main article: Project 22220 icebreaker § Design

Leningrad is 173.3 metres (569 ft) long overall and has a maximum beam of 34 metres (112 ft). Designed to operate efficiently both in shallow Arctic river estuaries as well as along the Northern Sea Route, the draught of the vessel can be varied between about 9 and 10.5 metres (30 and 34 ft) by taking in and discharging ballast water, corresponding to a displacement between 25,540 and 33,530 tonnes (25,140 and 33,000 long tons).^[5][6][8]

Leningrad has a nuclear-turbo-electric powertrain. The onboard nuclear power plant consists of two 175 MWt RITM-200 pressurized water reactors fueled by up to 20% enriched Uranium-235^[21] and two 36 MWe turbogenerators.^[22][23][24] The propulsion system follows the classic polar icebreaker pattern with three 6.2-metre (20 ft) four-bladed propellers driven by 20-megawatt (27,000 hp) electric motors.^[25][26] With a total propulsion power of 60 megawatts (80,000 hp), Leningrad is designed to be capable of breaking 2.8 metres (9 ft) thick level ice at a continuous speed of 1.5–2 knots (2.8–3.7 km/h; 1.7–2.3 mph) at full power when operating in deep water at design draught.^[6]

Notes

1. The type size series designation "LK-60Ya" (Russian: ЛК-60Я) comes from the Russian language word for "icebreaker" (Russian: ледокол, romanized: ledokol), propulsion power (60 megawatts), and the first letter of the Russian word for "nuclear" (Russian: ядерное, romanized: yadernoye).

References

1. "Росатомфлот заключил контракт на строительство пятого и шестого серийных универсальных атомных ледоколов". Rosatomflot (in Russian). 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
2. "Ленинград". FleetPhoto. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
3. "Putin Gives Go-Ahead to New Nuclear Icebreaker". The Moscow Times. 26 January 2024. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
4. "Leningrad (1022952)". Equasis. Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
5. "Универсальный атомный ледокол проекта 22220" (in Russian). Rosatomflot. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
6. "Multipurpose nuclear icebreaker project 22220". United Shipbuilding Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
7. "Как ледокол "Арктика" готовился к ходовым испытаниям" (in Russian). Sudostroenie.info. 15 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
8. "Испытание Дудинкой. «Сибирь» поборола лишний вес" (in Russian). Fontanka.ru. 2 February 2022. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
9. "Ледокол "Арктика" готов на 60%" (in Russian). Ruselprom. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
10. Tsoy, L.G. (2012), "Не разучились ли наши судостроители проектировать ледоколы?", Морской флот (in Russian) (5)
11. Tsoy, L.G.; Stoyanov, I.A.; Mikhailichenko, V.V.; Livshits, S.G. (1995), "Perspective types of Arctic icebreakers and their principal characteristics" (PDF), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Port and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions, 1995 (POAC'95), vol. 1, pp. 13–26, archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2021, retrieved 27 January 2024
12. Tsoy, L.G. (1994), "New generation Arktika class nuclear icebreaker feasibility study", Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Ships and Marine Structures in Cold Regions, 1994 (ICETECH'95), pp. P1–P8
13. "Largest icebreaker construction now underway". The Motorship. 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
14. "Baltic Shipyard to build new large nuclear-powered icebreaker (Project 22220 LC-60YA)". Navy Recognition. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
15. "Baltiysky Shipyard to build three new icebreakers by 2020". Barents Observer. 8 May 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
16. "Russia's ATOMFLOT Orders 4th & 5th Project 22220 Nuclear-Powered Icebreakers". Naval News. 11 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
17. "Новые атомные ледоколы проекта 22220 получили имена" (in Russian). Sudostroenie.info. 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
18. "In chilly return to past, Putin names new icebreaker "Stalingrad"". The Barents Observer. 20 November 2023. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
19. Wärtsilä-yhtymä O/Y Hietalahden telakka (1960), 22000 ahv:n polaarijäänmurtajat Moskva ja Leningrad, Helsinki: Oy Weilin & Göös Ab
20. "Ленинград". FleetPhoto. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
21. Lobner, Peter. "Marine Nuclear Power: 1939 – 2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
22. "Serving the nuclear machine building industry since 1945" (PDF). JSC "Afrikantov OKBM". Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
23. "Kirovsky Zavod Will Manufacture a Steam-Turbine Plant for the World's Largest Nuclear-Powered Ice-Breaker". Kirovsky Zavod. 27 August 2013. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
24. "Турбогенератор РУСЭЛПРОМА установили на атомный ледокол" (in Russian). Ruselprom. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
25. "Электродвигатели "Русэлпрома" погружены на ледокол "Сибирь"" (in Russian). Ruselprom. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
26. ""Звездочка" изготовила лопасти гребных винтов для головного атомного ледокола" (in Russian). 20 April 2016. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2020.