The Russian Geographical Society confirmed that the Vaygach icebreaker, which sank in 1918, was discovered in the Kara Sea. This was announced on Wednesday, December 22, by Sergei Chechulin, director of the department of expeditionary activities and tourism development of the Russian Geographical Society, at a press conference in Moscow.
The discovery of the vessel was made by the members of the joint expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Northern Fleet (NF), who conducted a diving survey.
On December 22, a ceremony was held for the transfer to the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society of documents from the family archives of the captain of the "Vaygach" Admiral Boris Vilkitsky and hydrograph Nikolai Evgenov, the icebreaker watch officer reports NSN.
Chechulin said that last year, as part of the third season of the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Northern Fleet to explore the Arctic archipelagos in the Kara Sea, the location of the remains of several ships built in the 20th century was determined.
The basis of the hydrographic expedition, which was performed in 1910–1915, was made up of the Taimyr and Vaygach icebreakers. The purpose of the campaign was to study the routes along the northern shores of Siberia. Then, in particular, the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, the islands of Maly Taimyr and Starokadomsky were discovered.
The Vaygach icebreaker was laid down in St. Petersburg in 1907 at the Nevsky shipyard, and launched in 1908. It entered service in 1909. The ship took part in the First World War. In 1918, it had an accident in the Yenisei Gulf.
Earlier, on October 6, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev said that by 2030 Russia plans to triple the ice-class cargo fleet. He noted that now the ships in the Arctic Ocean are carrying five nuclear icebreakers. Their number in 2026 will increase to nine due to the 22220 project, Trutnev added.
In April 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia is creating the most powerful icebreaker fleet in the world.
Source: Izvestia