On 12 December 2018, PAO Shipbuilding Firm “Almaz” held a ceremonial keel-laying of an icebreaker of Project 21180М. The ship ordered by RF Defence Ministry and named Yevpaty Kolovrat will join RF Navy’s fleet of auxiliary vessels, says the Ministry.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Defence Ministry, high command of RF Navy, administration of Saint-Petersburg, management of defence contractors involved in construction of the icebreaker.
Diesel-electric icebreaker was designed by Nizhny Novgorod based Design Bureau “Vympel”. It is intended for independent escorting of warships and commercial vessels in ice waters, implementation of all icebreaking works, towing of ships, delivery of cargo to remote locations in ice-covered areas, assistance to ships in distress.
The icebreaker will have a displacement of 4,000 tonnes, hull length of 82 m, width of 19 m, speed of up to 14 knots, crew of about 30 members, endurance of 1 momth. The ship will be able to break through 1-meter thick ice.
Construction of ice-class ships for RF Navy is foreseen by the programme on naval construction and complies with the tasks of RF Navy covering regions with challenging ice conditions.
Joint Stock Shipbuilding Company "Almaz" was founded in 1933 as a shipyard of the USSR Coast Guard. Today, St. Petersburg headquartered Almaz is a modern enterprise with a long shipbuilding tradition specializing in the construction, conversion, outfitting and repair of high-speed coast guard border patrol vessels and boats, of large and small tonnage ships, of multipurpose hovercrafts, ships and yachts for civil sector both for Russian and foreign customers. The company has two floating docks of 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes in capacity. Since its foundation Almaz has built over 1,000 ships including 500 ships for the Border Service of Russia.