Icebreaker "Angara" - a steam vessel, which was part of the first Soviet, and then the Russian fleet. It was built before the October Revolution, today it is involved as a museum ship. It is considered one of the oldest icebreakers in the world, along with Swedish and Finnish ships.
Icebreaker construction
The birthday of the Angara icebreaker is considered July 25, 1900, when the ship was launched in the village of Listvenichnoye (Irkutsk Region). The ship itself was built in Newcastle, England. It was delivered to Russia in disassembled form.
The customer of this ship in tsarist Russia was the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway. Prior to that, he already had successful experience in cooperation with English shipbuilders - the acquisition in 1898 of the Baikal icebreaker, which operated on the lake of the same name until 1918.
Both ships were ordered for one purpose - to provide ferry services for trains across the Russian lake. The crossing was organized for a while, until railways were built around a huge reservoir.
The Baikal ferry was small and low-power, so the main task of the Angara was to make a path in the ice for its younger brother. Baikal could not guarantee the safe transportation of goods if the thickness of the ice exceeded 70 centimeters. And in that climate it often happened that the ice was much thicker.
Thus, the Angara and Baikal made regular flights until 1906. It was then that the construction of the Circum-Baikal Railway was completed, and the urgent need for icebreakers disappeared. There was not enough money, as always, therefore for a whole decade the ships turned out to be useless to anyone.
The second life of the icebreaker
The icebreaker Angara began its second life in 1916. Traffic on the Circum-Baikal Railway by this time was so loaded that it could not cope with the entire traffic flow.
After the victory of the October Revolution, the Angara icebreaker, like everything then in the country, was nationalized. Its new destination was passenger transportation.
And when the Civil War began, the ship was converted into a battle. He was equipped with six-inch guns and machine guns. It participated in raids to destroy Czechoslovak military units based on the shores of Lake Baikal.
In 1918, after the vicinity of Baikal fell into the hands of whites, the Angara was disarmed and placed under the control of the Baikal railway crossing. The ship again became a passenger.
In 1920, during the flight of the "whites" on board the ship, a massacre of hostages of the Irkutsk prison was committed. The arrested were stripped to their underwear and brought to the deck. The death sentence was executed by Cossack Lukin on the orders of Lt. Col. Sipailo. He beat every prisoner on the head with a wooden mallet, which in peacetime was used to crack ice. After that, the victim’s body was thrown overboard.
Thus, whites executed 31 supporters of the Political Center, a short-lived government that led Irkutsk for less than three months and was in opposition to the famous white admiral Kolchak.
Red troops returned to Irkutsk only at the end of spring. Then the icebreaker "Angara", the photo of which is in this article, was again called up for military service. The vessel was used to combat the remnants of the Kolchak and Kappel groups. In this way, the icebreaker was used almost until the very end of the Civil War - October 1922.
Icebreaker "Angara": characteristics
The ship is 61 meters long and almost 11 meters wide. Height - a little over 7.5 meters. Draft is almost 5 meters. The icebreaker Angara (Irkutsk) has a displacement of 1,400 tons. At that time, the ship met all the characteristics of ships of this class.
The icebreaker "Angara" was equipped with four locomotive-type fire-tube boilers. Also on the ship was a triple expansion steam engine.
The speed of the Angara icebreaker in km / h was more than 23 units. One propeller was installed on the engine. The vessel accommodated 160 passengers, not including crew members. Registered tonnage - 250 tons.
Icebreaker at the Soviet Union
After the Civil War, the Angara icebreaker, whose history was well known to residents of Irkutsk and the region, was again used as a passenger ship. In 1929, he crashed when he returned from the Gulf of Kurbulik. Then the ship was rescued, but was subject to major repairs due to the large number of damage received as a result of the accident.
The second large-scale reconstruction of the Angara was planned for May 1941 and was postponed in connection with the outbreak of World War II.
Icebreaker in the new war
This time the icebreaker was used as a cargo ship. He transported barges with fish. In this capacity, he worked until 1949, when he was nevertheless forced to undergo a major overhaul due to an extremely deteriorating technical condition.
At this time, sudden complications arose using the old slipway. As a result, the repair dragged on for more than 10 years. Only in 1960, the Angara was again able to go camping. But not for long.
In 1962, the icebreaker was finally expelled from the ships that make up the operating fleet, due to poor technical condition and obsolescence. At that time, the place of the "Angara" was already taken by more modern and high-speed vessels.
Until 1967, the icebreaker was in the sump, then it was transferred to the Irkutsk reservoir. There, it began to be used for its intended purpose by the local branch of DOSAAF.
Put on metal
"Put on needles" or "put on metal" - that's what they say about decommissioned ships that are expected to be disposed of. It is very likely that the same fate awaited the “Hangar", but it was saved by a happy accident.
They simply forgot about the icebreaker. He was not cut into metal, as was the case in similar cases. And the ship stood for many years in the Irkutsk reservoir.
They only remembered the vessel in 1982, when it was decided to tow it to the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station. The ship was in the center of the city, at its base, it was decided to open a museum of local lore.
The icebreaker was parked in the Solnechny microdistrict (Irkutsk). They did not manage to make a museum. In 1983, a major fire occurred on the ship. It almost completely burned out and almost drowned again. In this state, the icebreaker spent another 4 years in the Irkutsk reservoir.
Steamboat restoration
The All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historic and Cultural Monuments decided to restore the Angara icebreaker. Museum - these are the purposes for which you can use a ship with a long and fascinating history. Work on the implementation of this idea was carried out for three years.
In November 1990, the ship was solemnly put on an eternal parking lot in the Irkutsk reservoir.
Museum exposition
Since then, a museum has been operating on the basis of this ship. The icebreaker Angara (Irkutsk) again changed its appearance and this time began to take everyone on deck.
The main exhibition of the museum is divided into two main parts. First, visitors are told about the history of navigation on Lake Baikal, dating back more than one century, then the history of the Angara icebreaker itself.
The first set of exhibits dedicated to the general history of shipping in these places is divided into several sections. This acquaintance with the way of life and life of Siberians in these places, starting from ancient times. The official navigation is also presented in detail: the Irkutsk Admiralty, which was responsible for all ships and moorings during the time of Tsarist Russia, and the navigational school, which trained new captains and naval officers.
Special attention is paid to the work of private shipping companies on Lake Baikal. One of them just belonged to the Angara icebreaker. Also, visitors can learn about the development of the Baikal railway crossing, after the construction of which an alternative waterway appeared. By now, the history of the East Siberian Shipping Company has been thoroughly studied.
In that part of the exhibition, which is dedicated directly to the icebreaker, genuine photographs and documentary evidence of how his fate developed were presented. You can see the personal belongings of former crew members. A tour of the ship ends in the engine room - the heart of any ship. Here you can see firsthand the work of a machine built by an English company.
Icebreaker captains
More than one captain who led the Angara visited the icebreaker for its fate. Captain Mazur took control of the vessel first in 1900.
The last - Nikolai Zubkov, who finally put the ship in port in 1963.
A large role in the fate of “Angara” was played by George Lazo. He is a native of Irkutsk, 14 years younger than the icebreaker. He dreamed of a career as a sailor from an early age. After seven years, I couldn’t enter any of the technical schools and went to Listvyanka to the pier. He started working as a sailor when he was only 16 years old.
Returning from the campaign, he entered the captain's courses and received the corresponding rank. Since 1941, he worked first as an assistant captain on the "Hangar", and then directly as a captain.
It was Lazo who directed the installation of the ship on the slipway in 1953, when the ship was seriously in need of major repairs.
How to get to the icebreaker "Angara"?
In order to see the ship with your own eyes, you must personally come to Irkutsk. Here you can not only enjoy the beauties of Lake Baikal, but also get on this legendary ship.
He is joking in the Irkutsk reservoir in the Solnechny microdistrict. The exposition is available to visitors five days a week, except Monday and Tuesday. The doors of the icebreaker museum are open from 10.00 to 18.00.
It is worth noting that this is a non-profit project that does not receive financial assistance from the state. The author and main creator of the composition is the well-known activist in Irkutsk, Eduard Hawailer.
At the same time, the project has been repeatedly noted at various museum competitions. So, in 2003, he received a first degree diploma at the competition "Historical Monuments of My Little Homeland". He has many other prestigious awards.