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Russian Navy gets new icebreaker for the first time in more than 40 years

It is 85 meters long and 20 meters wide and has a draught of 7 meters, speed of 15 knots and ability to break through one-meter thick ice
Ilya Muromets icebreaker  Peter Kovalev/TASS
Ilya Muromets icebreaker
© Peter Kovalev/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, November 30. /TASS/. The icebreaker The Ilya Muromets (Project 21180) has joined the Russian Navy. The flag-hoisting ceremony was held on board the ship at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

This is the first icebreaker to have been handed over to the Navy’s logistic fleet over more than forty years. Murmansk is its port of registration.

Taking part in the ceremony were the Navy’s deputy commander for armaments Viktor Bursuk, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Aleksey Rakhmanov and Admiralty Shipyards CEO Aleksandr Buzakov.

"We are getting a ship possessing far more functions than an ordinary icebreaker. It will be in service to the benefit of the Navy," Bursuk said.

The laying of the ice-breaker’s keel took place on April 23, 2015. The ship will be servicing Russia’s Arctic naval group. It is 85 meters long and 20 meters wide and has a draught of 7 meters, speed of 15 knots and ability to break through one-meter thick ice. It is the first ice-breaker to have been built especially for the Navy in 45 years.