December 29, 2020
On December 18, the “Admiralty Shipyards” in St.Petersburg launched an ice-resistant self-propelled marine platform (LSP) ‘North Pole’ of project 00903, ordered by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (RosHydroMet).
The contract between JSC ”Admiralty Shipyards” and RosHydroMet was signed in April 2018. The keel was laid down on April 10, 2019. The construction of the vessel is being carried out within the framework of the federal program for the socio-economic development of the Arctic region of the Russian Federation.
LSP ‘North Pole’ has the functionality of a research center and is designed for year-round expeditions in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean. The vessel is designed to conduct geological, acoustic, geophysical and oceanographic research; it is capable of passing through ice without icebreaker support, as well as operating heavy helicopters such as MI-8 AMT (Mi-17). The LSP will provide comfortable and safe working and living conditions for the crew (14 people) and scientific personnel (34) at the polar station at temperatures down to -50o and humidity 85%.
The main operational and technical characteristics of the LSP: length – 83.1 m; width – 22.5 m; displacement – about 10,390 tons; power plant – 4200 kW; speed – at least 10 knots; hull strength – Arc8; autonomy in terms of fuel reserves – about 2 years; service life – at least 25 years.. The ‘North Pole’ ice-resistant self-propelled marine platform is classified as KM (*) Arc5 [1] AUT1-C HELIDECK-F Special purpose ship by.Russian Maritime Register of Shipping:
“Admiralty Shipyards” have extensive experience in building ice-class ships. In 1959, the shipyard built the world’s first nuclear icebreaker ‘Lenin’; in 1979 the research vessel ‘Otto Schmidt’. Since the early 2000s the shipyard constructed a series of five ice-going tankers with a deadweight of 20,000 tons; Arctic tankers ‘Mikhail Ulyanov’ and ‘Kirill Lavrov’ with deadweight of 70,000 tons; scientific expeditionary vessel ‘Akademik Tryoshnikov’.