The incident in Antarctica

In 2002, space satellites recorded an unusual phenomenon in Antarctica: a giant chunk of ice measuring more than 2,000 square kilometres began to break off from the ice shelf. Storms and currents carried one of the fragments, measuring about 170 square kilometres, towards McMurdo Sound, on the shore of which is located the polar station of the same name, belonging to the Antarctic programme of the US National Science Foundation, which monitors spacecraft, ocean currents and climate in the Earth's southern ice cap.

McMurdo Scientific Station

A giant iceberg completely blocked the entrance to the bay, cutting off polar explorers from all vital supplies. Without food and fuel supplies, it would be impossible to survive the approaching Antarctic winter. Air evacuation would be very risky, as this is the season of powerful autumn winds in Antarctica, making flights extremely dangerous.

In addition, it would have been necessary to evacuate the staff of the nearby Terra Nova and New Zealand's Scott research stations, as well as the staff of a number of American stations deep in the continent. The fact is that McMurdo supplies them with everything they need, so more than 3,000 people would have had to be evacuated. Throughout November, the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star broke a channel to the station, but the closer it got to the McMurdo Strait, the thicker the ice became.

The fact is that the huge area of the bay, in the absence of currents, began to accumulate fast ice — multi-year coastal ice, making it impassable in places. After several unsuccessful attempts, it became clear that the American icebreaker Polar Star could not cope on its own. Thus, the US National Science Foundation realised that for such a mission it would be better to have two icebreakers that could back each other up. The Polar Sea, an icebreaker of the same ice class and capabilities, was immediately called in to assist the Polar Star.

Polar Star icebreaker of the US Coast Guard

Soon, together they began to break a channel for supply ships to reach the station, but the thick ice proved too much for the American icebreakers. Having miscalculated the force of its next impact with the ice, the Polar Sea was so badly damaged that it was forced to withdraw from the rescue operation and undergo lengthy repairs. Alone, the Polar Star was powerless against an obstacle of this magnitude. American scientists were faced with a difficult choice. A decision had to be made urgently: either ask other countries for help or begin evacuating people from all three stations, abandoning millions of dollars worth of equipment and halting all research projects.

On 15 December 2004, the US State Department officially requested the Russian government to provide a free icebreaker for the operation in the Antarctic Ross Sea. At the time of the official request for assistance, there were no available icebreakers in the area, and the Russian Federation made the difficult decision to send its best icebreaker to the aid of American, Italian and New Zealand polar explorers, to the detriment of its own interests in the Arctic. The most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker, the Krasin, the pride of the modern icebreaker fleet, named after its legendary predecessor, was withdrawn from supplying the northern regions of the Russian Federation, the so-called northern delivery route.

Krasin diesel-electric icebreaker

Technical data of the diesel-electric icebreaker Krasin:

• Displacement — 20,240 tonnes
• Length — 134.84 m
• Width — 26.05 m
• Draught — 11 m
• Ice belt thickness: 52 mm in the bow, 40 mm in the middle, 45 mm in the stern
• Power plant — nine diesel generators with a capacity of 37,600 hp
• Speed in open water — 19.5 knots
• Fuel capacity — 5,000 tonnes
• Autonomy — 28 days
• Crew — 92 people.

The icebreaker is equipped with a helicopter pad, an automated propulsion system with remote start and stop of the main diesel generators, and a towing winch with an automatic control system. After loading fuel and food supplies, the icebreaker Krasin urgently set off for Antarctica to help the polar explorers. On 21 December 2004, the icebreaker's epic journey through the ice began. It had to sail almost halfway around the world to help people in distress, covering a distance of 12,000 miles from Vladivostok to Antarctica.

The situation around the McMurdo Antarctic station was deteriorating by the hour. The supply ships waiting to be escorted to the station were not ice-class and could be crushed like the Chelyuskin. The strengthening winds were pushing the frozen ice closer and closer together. There were several moments when the only icebreaker left in service, the Polar Star, could itself have been crushed by the ice.

The station watched the events unfold with growing concern. Meanwhile, the icebreaker Krasin, which was coming to the rescue, encountered its first difficulties: the equatorial heat proved to be almost as dangerous for the Russian polar explorers as the Antarctic ice. Nature posed a severe challenge to the icebreaker's crew. The temperature in the engine room reached +66˚C. The ship suffered from the heat as much as its crew.

The Krasin was operating at the limit of its capabilities, as unusually warm water from equatorial currents entered its cooling system and the mechanisms began to fail. Nevertheless, the icebreaker Krasin reached the roaring forties and the moaning fifties, as sailors call the belt of storms and hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, the sailors faced a new test: due to its design, the Krasin, like any other icebreaker, did not handle rough seas well. This was a serious challenge for the crew and the ship.

Soon, the Krasin entered an area of several cyclones, where the swell and wave height increased to such an extent that Captain Viktor Kovalchuk had to halt progress for 1.5 days. Upon arrival, the Russian sailors learned of a serious malfunction on the Polar Star icebreaker: the ship had damaged one of its propellers, which, despite all the efforts of the specialists, could not be repaired. The damage proved too complex. Now time was of the essence for the Russian sailors — they had to free the damaged Polar Star before it became trapped itself.

The Antarctic winter was approaching, and giant icebergs were moving everywhere, posing a danger even to icebreakers. On 11 January 2005, after crossing the 60th parallel south, the icebreaker Krasin entered Antarctic waters for the first time. By the time the Russian icebreaker arrived, the situation at McMurdo could have spiralled out of control at any moment. It was necessary to get to work immediately. The convoy of supply ships that met the icebreaker Krasin was ready to move at the first command — a tanker, a container ship and a research vessel. The Russian captain's experience made him the head of the operation.

The slalom between the icebergs began. For 10 days, the icebreakers Krasin and Polar Star widened the ice route for the ships so that they would not get stuck in the ice. Guiding the supply ships was particularly difficult for the polar sailors — the two-metre Antarctic ice proved to be a serious obstacle even for such a powerful icebreaker as the Krasin. At one point during the operation, constant impacts of ice floes on the propellers in the Russian icebreaker's shafting caused a leak, and water began to enter the ship.

Krasin icebreaker at McMurdo pier

There was no time to stop, and the ship's crew had to repair the damage on the move, standing in the icy water. On 26 January 2005, after passing through a continuous strip of icebergs, the tanker, accompanied by icebreakers, safely moored at the pier of McMurdo Station.

Bulk carrier in McMurdo

The first and most difficult stage of the operation was complete. But the second stage of the operation lay ahead: guiding the container ship with 10,000 tonnes of cargo on board. While the tanker was transferring fuel to the polar station's tanks, the icebreaker Krasin returned to the entrance to the bay to escort the next vessel, the container ship MV American Tern, to the station.

American Tern container ship being guided by Krasin icebreaker

As luck would have it, the temperature began to drop sharply at that very moment. The wind picked up, driving large ice floes and small icebergs into the broken channel. On the last stretch, both icebreakers were already pulling the container ship along until it finally docked at McMurdo.

MV American Tern container ship accompanied by icebreakers

Containers with food and equipment were delivered to their destination on time. The Russian icebreaker coped brilliantly with its rescue mission. American colleagues were already waiting for the polar explorers on shore. They had prepared a surprise for them: a tour of the station, which had never been visited by Russian specialists before. At the end of the visit, the grateful Americans organised a sports festival, in which the crew of the icebreaker Krasin gladly participated.

On the 49th day of the Antarctic epic, the icebreaker Krasin bid farewell to the McMurdo polar explorers, who had been provided with everything they needed for the whole year. In April 2005, the Krasin returned to its home port of Vladivostok.