Built as an icebreaker under yard No 353 by the Sandvikens Skeppsdocka, Helsingfors (Helsinki) one of the Wärtsila Koncernen A/B for account of the U.S.S.R.
15 Dec. 1953 launched under the name KAPITAN BELOUSOV. Named after Captain M.P.Belousov, a famous captain on Russian northern icebreakers, and a hero of the U.S.S.R. Two sisters the KAPITAN MELEKHOV and KAPITAN VORONIN.
Tonnage 3.710 gross, 1.050 net, 1.446 dwt. Dim. 83.17 x 19.41 x 9.5m., draught 6.2m.
Diesel electric powered by six 8 cyl. Polar diesels, 10.500 ihp., speed 16.5 knots. Four screws, two bow and two aft.
Range 8.760 miles.
Crew 120.
31 Dec. 1954 delivered.
At that time one of the most powerful icebreakers in the world.
Mostly used in the Baltic Sea, but she was also used as an auxiliary icebreaker in the Arctic.
1970 Together with the nuclear powered icebreaker LENIN, she convoyed the cargo ship GIZHIGA to Dudinka in an experimental winter voyage.
2008 http://www.equasis.org gives: that she is in service.
Call sign UVFB. She is under the flag of the Ukraine. Her registered owner is Mariupol Port, Crimea.
IMO No. 5181598.
Source: Navicula. Soviet Merchant Ships by Ambrose Greenway. Merchant Ships 1955.