Description of the attraction
In Murmansk, next to the building of the local history museum, there is a monument to one of the first icebreakers of the Northern Fleet, who served in it for 64 years. Ermak, named after the Russian explorer of Siberia, was the first icebreaker of the Arctic class. He owes his creation to the Russian naval commander and oceanographer Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov. He was the first to put forward the idea of building such an icebreaker that would be able to overcome the Arctic ice.
In 1897, the government allocated funds for the construction of a new type of ship. Makarov, at the head of a special commission, led the development of technical conditions for the construction of the ship. Famous scientists and engineers were included in the commission. In 1897 it was decided that the British shipbuilding company Armstrong, Whitward and Co. would be engaged in the construction of the ship. A month before the end of the term prescribed in the contract, "Ermak" was ready for testing, and after a successful check was put into operation. On the shore, the icebreaker was met by local residents who had gathered in a crowd at the pier. A military band was playing. In honor of the event, a high-level reception was organized.
At that time, it was a unique ship, breaking ice up to two meters. By those standards, it was gigantic in size. Its length reached about 96 meters, width - more than 20 meters, displacement was equal to 7875 tons. In 1899 "Ermak" set off on its maiden voyage under the leadership of Makarov. Initially, the icebreaker flew under a commercial flag, since it was not yet part of the navy.
"Ermak" was able to swim on ice up to 81 ° 26 'north latitude. He rounded Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. It was a kind of record. Further, the icebreaker served in the Baltic Sea for thirty years. With his help, the Northern Sea Route was mastered, caravans of ships successfully passed through the ice of the northern seas. The icebreaker moved further and further north and broke another record, conquering the northern latitude of 83 ° 05 '. He participated in the rescue of many ships and expeditions. As part of the Navy, he participated in many military operations during the Russian-Japanese, World War I and the Great Patriotic War. In 1949, for 50 years of peaceful and military service, "Ermak" received an award - the Order of Lenin.
For many years of work in the North "Ermak" has become dilapidated. In the early sixties, he was declared unfit for service, and the question was raised about the future fate of the veteran of the ice element. Residents of Murmansk advocated that "Ermak" became a museum of the history of the conquest of the Arctic. The youth of the city initiated an action to collect scrap metal, the weight of which would replace the weight of the ship itself, which was subject to write-off. However, despite attempts to preserve the first Arctic icebreaker for history, it was not possible to save it. In 1963 it was decommissioned and scrapped. In its place in 1974, another icebreaker arrived with the same name.
However, the memory of the first Arctic icebreaker "Ermak" was nevertheless immortalized for posterity. On November 3, 1965, a memorial was erected at the wall of the building of the regional museum of local lore in the city of Murmansk in memory of the legendary icebreaker "Ermak". The monument is an ensemble of a monumental mosaic canvas and an anchor of the icebreaker "Ermak" at the foot on a pedestal. The project of the mosaic panel was created by the architect N. P. Bystryakov. The work on his project was carried out by the mosaist S. A. Nikolaev and artist I. D. Dyachenko in the workshops of the USSR Academy of Arts in Leningrad. Then specialists in Murmansk mounted the canvas and installed it on the wall of the museum. The mosaic was folded from pieces of smalt. The panel depicts the Ermak icebreaker paving the way in the Arctic ice expanses. Below, on a granite pedestal, there is a three-ton anchor with an almost five-meter chain, which was actually removed from this ship, as well as a memorial plate made of bronze.
Until 1997, the monument was protected by the state. After the collapse of the USSR, the new government excluded him from the list of protected objects.
