The ceremony of hoisting the RF national flag was held on the innovative multipurpose icebreaking emergency and rescue vessel at St. Petersburg
On 20 February 2015, the ceremony of hoisting the RF national flag was held on the Baltika, an innovative multipurpose icebreaking emergency and rescue vessel, moored at Angliyskaya Naberezhnaya, St. Petersburg. The ship was built under the survey of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) for FBI Gosmorspassluzhba of Russia, RS said in its press release.
The innovative Baltika is a good example of hi-tech solution application. The ship features a unique capability to break ice effectively not only while moving ahead and astern but also sideways because of the particular asymmetric hull and specific location of three azimuth thrusters with a total capacity of 7.5 MW (one forward and two aft propellers: CL, PORT). RS class notation: KM✪ Icebreaker6 [1] AUT1-ICS OMBO FF3WS EPP DYNPOS-1 ECO-S HELIDECK Oil recovery ship (>60 °C)/salvage ship/tug.
The ceremony was attended by Victor A. Olersky, Deputy Minister of Transport, Mikhail P. Mokretsov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexei L. Rakhmanov, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Victor A. Minenko, Chief Federal Inspector for St. Petersburg.
Victor A. Olersky thanked all those who participated in the vessel's design and construction. He remarked that Baltika is a conceptual newbuild designed for a wide range of missions from lifesaving to icebreaker assistance; such a ship is the first to appear in the world shipping history. Alexei L. Rakhmanov added that projects of such kind require more participation of Russia. It is the major objective of the United Shipbuilding Corporation for the next five years.
Sergey N. Sedov, Chief Executive Officer of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, attended the ceremony. Speaking to reporters, he noted: “the Baltika is an unrivalled vessel built to RS class. The innovative hull shape enables the vessel to make a navigable canal up to 50 m wide by a single pass when moving sideways for large ships, thus enabling to enhance icebreaker assistance efficiency. The Baltika is highly estimated by the experts of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects”.
In 2014 two more vessels under RS class were recognised by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects: the Velikiy Novgorod LNG carrier and the Berkarar ro-ro passenger ship.
