Putin: “I am confident that the new icebreaker Stalingrad will bear this proud name with dignity”
The keel-laying ceremony for the nuclear-powered icebreaker Stalingrad took place at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
The Stalingrad will be the seventh icebreaker in the Project 22220 series.
The Arktika, Ural, Sibir and Yakutia are already sailing in Arctic waters, breaking the ice for petroleum tankers and other vessels sailing along the Northern Sea Route. The two icebreakers Chukotka and Leningrad are under construction at the Baltic Shipyard and are expected to be delivered to Rosatomflot by the end of 2026 and 2028.
On November 18, Vladimir Putin attended the keel-laying ceremony for Stalingrad, but only via video-link from one of his bunkers, likely in Moscow.
The icebreaker with the "glorious name of Stalingrad," Putin said, "is yet another tribute to the memory and unwavering courage of the defenders and residents of the Volga stronghold, the valor and bravery of the participants in the grand battle, which largely determined the outcome of not only the Great Patriotic War, but also the entire Second World War, and, without exaggeration, influenced the fate of humanity."
As a modern-day dictator, Putin plays on the collective memory of World War II to mobilise society to legitimise current policies by drawing parallels between WWII and present-day conflicts. By that, the leader in the Kremlin aims at shaping the new generation's understanding of sacrifice and war.
From geographical names to mass murderers
When Russia in 2013 laid down the first of the new generation icebreakers, the Arktika, decision was made to name all vessels with geographical names from the northern regions.
That policy changed with the full-scale war against Ukraine and it was decided that the two next icebreakers to be built should carry the name of the Soviet Union's two dictators and mass-murderers.
The Kamchatka became Stalingrad, and the Sakhalin was renamed to Leningrad.
Also, the two last icebreakers with Soviet hero city names are to be painted differently than the previous vessels. The Leningrad and Stalingrad will be painted in the colours of the Russian flag and both will have a huge Soviet stylish World-War II statue from the two cities painted in front.
Stalingrad was officially renamed Volgograd in 1961 as part of the Soviet Union's "de-Stalinization" campaign to distance itself from dictator Joseph Stalin.
"I am confident that the new icebreaker Stalingrad will bear this proud name with dignity. Operating in the harsh Arctic conditions, blazing a path through the ice, it will become yet another symbol of the talent, strength, and creative energy of our people, their ability to set and implement the most daring plans, and to persevere in the most difficult times," Vladimir Putin said in his video-transmitted speech to the construction yard in St. Petersburg.
Year-round navigation
The new generation icebreakers are powered by to RITM-200 nuclear reactors (2 × 175 MWt). Capable of breaking at least 2,8-metre thick ice, the goal is for Russia to provide for year-around sailings from the Kara Sea in the west to the Bering Strait in the East.
All Russia's nuclear-powered icebreakers are based at Atomflot, the service base in Murmansk.
