Krasin (1976 icebreaker)
Template:Short description Template:About
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsThe Krasin (Template:Langx) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) icebreaker. The vessel operates in polar regions.
History
The ship was built at the Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland in 1976.<ref name=Fesco/> Named after an early Bolshevik leader and Soviet diplomat Leonid Krasin and an earlier icebreaker of the same name.
Design
The second Krasin is a triple-screw diesel-powered icebreaker owned by the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) and is based in Vladivostok. The hull has a friction-reducing coating.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Krasin can break ice Template:Convert thick.<ref name=philately>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Service
During the 2004–2005 season (Operation Deep Freeze 2005), the United States Antarctic Program hired the Krasin as a secondary vessel to help clear a channel to McMurdo Station<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> because the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star faced a record cut through fast ice of more than Template:Convert. The Krasin departed Vladivostok on December 21, 2004, and arrived at the Ross Sea ice edge one month later.<ref name=philately/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Krasin departed the Ross Sea on 9 February, reaching Vladivostok on March 5, 2005. She is unlikely to return to the Antarctic as FESCO have signed a multi-year contract for Krasin to support oil rig operations in the Sea of Okhotsk from March 2005 onwards.<ref name=philately/> Along with her sister ship Admiral Makarov, Krasin has been providing winter escort to large capacity tankers from the port of De-Kastri (Khabarovsk) as part of the Sakhalin-I project.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the summer months she provides escort on the Northern Sea Route to the Eastern sector of Arctic servicing sea terminals of North Chukotka.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In September 2022, it was announced that KrasinTemplate:'s 1974-built sister ship Ermak would be dismantled for parts to keep the 1976-built icebreaker in service.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>