Arktika-class icebreaker

The Arktika class is a Russian (formerly Soviet) class of nuclear-powered icebreakers. Formerly known as Project 10520 nuclear-powered icebreaker, they were the world's largest and most powerful icebreakers until the 2016 launch of the first Project 22220 icebreaker, also named Arktika.[3][4]

Arktika in November 1980
Class overview
BuildersBaltic Shipyard
OperatorsFSUE Atomflot
Succeeded byProject 22220 icebreaker
Built1971–2007
In service1975–present
Completed6
Active2
Retired4
General characteristics [1][2]
TypeIcebreaker
Tonnage20-24,000 GT
Displacement23,000–25,168 tons
Length148 m (486 ft)
Beam30 m (98 ft)
Height17.2 m (56 ft)
Draught11 m (36 ft)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • Nuclear-turbo-electric
  • Three shafts (3 × 18 MW)
Speed20.6 knots (38.2 km/h; 23.7 mph) (maximum)
Endurance7.5 months
Crew189
Aircraft carried1 × Mi-2, Mi-8 or Ka-27 helicopter
Aviation facilitiesHelipad and hangar for one helicopter

Ships of the Arktika class are owned by the federal government, but were operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSCO) until 2008, when they were transferred to the fully state-owned corporation Atomflot. Of the ten civilian nuclear-powered vessels[not verified in body] built by Russia or the Soviet Union, six were of this type.

They are used for escorting merchant ships in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia as well as for scientific and recreational expeditions to the Arctic.


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