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It's an interesting side note that in the 80's the Soviet Union, despite having a large icebreaking ship building capabilities, also bought icebreakers from Fin
by helsinkiandrew 2y ago
It's an interesting side note that in the 80's the Soviet Union, despite having a large icebreaking ship building capabilities, also bought icebreakers from Finland (then not a member of NATO)
Including a couple of Nuclear ones (they fitted the nuclear engine themselves):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaygach_(1989_icebreaker) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaygach_(1989_icebreaker)
- jillesvangurp 2y agoWhen I was living in Helsinki, there were two huge icebreakers there whose main job it was to keep the baltic see open for the Russians. I think that probably changed a bit since they joined NATO. I guess that aside from Alaska, the US doesn't have to deal with a lot of sea ice and isn't that dependent on arctic shipping routes. For Russia that's very different. The sea near St Petersburg can freeze over and Murmansk is also hard to reach in winter. And with Svebastopol and the black see fleet out of action, those would be strategically important for Russia. And they rely on the northern arctic route for trade with China as well.
- helsinkiandrew 2y agoSisu and Urho - they're still there - along with newer sister ships. Visible from satellite view of Google Maps. https://maps.app.goo.gl/rUq42cC1xFhUB8ij9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/rUq42cC1xFhUB8ij9
- ImJamal 2y agoThe US Navy will send ships in the Arctic Ocean past Alaska. It tends to be more common for submarines to be there, but surface ships do go there on occasion.