Yamal (ship)

**Yamal**
	The Yamal pushes itself on pack ice
Ship data
flag	Soviet Union Russia;
Ship type	Atomic icebreaker and cruise ship
class	Arktika- class
Callsign	UCJT
home port	St. Petersburg
Owner	RosAtom / Atomflot
Shipyard	Baltiski zavod
Build number	704
Keel laying	October 31, 1986
Commissioning	October 27, 1992
Whereabouts	in service
Ship dimensions and crew
length	150.0 m ( Lüa ) 136 m ( KWL )
width	30.0 m
Side height	17.2 m
Draft	Max. 11 m
measurement	23,455 GT
crew	150
Machine system
machine	3 × electr. Propeller motors, each 17.6 MW; Wave system
Machine ; performance	52,800 kW (71,788 hp)
Top ; speed	21.4 kn (40 km / h)
Energy ; supply	nuclear- electric ; 2 × OK-900A ( nuclear reactor ), each 171 MW thermal.; 2 × TGG-27.5 OM5, each 27.6 MW
Generator ; power	55,200 kW (75,051 hp)
propeller	3 × 4-blade fixed propeller
Transport capacities
Load capacity	2750 dw
Permitted number of passengers	100
Others
Classifications	Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
Registration ; numbers	IMO no. 9077549

The Yamal ( Russian Ямал ) is a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker of Arktika class . The ship's name is spelled in the German transcription Jamal .

Meaning of the name

The ship was named after the Yamal peninsula in northwest Siberia , whose name means something like end of the world in the language of its natives , the Nenets .

construction

The keel was laid in 1986 in Leningrad at the Baltic Works shipyard . Large seagoing vessels have been built at this shipyard on the Neva since 1856 . The Yamal was only completed in 1992 as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Originally it was supposed to keep the shipping lanes in the Arctic Ocean free, however, due to the political changes, it is being used differently than planned - namely as an expedition ship to the Arctic Ocean.

The Yamal counts with 75,000 hp maximum power remains among the strongest icebreakers in the world. The Yamal has a double outer shell. The outer shell is up to 48 mm thick at the points that regularly come into contact with ice, otherwise 25 mm. Water ballast is located between the outer and inner hulls. The ship can break ice up to five meters thick, and in isolated cases nine meters thick ice floes have been broken.

The breaking is not done by plowing through with screw power, but by driving the reinforced bow onto the ice in order to split it with the sheer weight of the hull. If necessary, the process is supported by large nozzles below the waterline at the bow, which eject up to six cubic meters of hot water per second to soften the ice. These nozzles are also fed by the power of the reactors.

Remarks

The Yamal and its sister ships absolutely need cold seawater to cool their nuclear reactors , a transfer to the Antarctic would therefore not be possible due to the tropical waters around the equator . With fresh fuel rods , the Yamal can theoretically operate for up to five years without having to call at a port. 86 sensors, which are distributed over the entire ship, constantly monitor the radioactivity on board.

The Yamal was the twelfth ship (apart from various military submarines ) that ever reached the North Pole .