History of the ship Mikhail Somov. Prisoners of Antarctica

In the mid-80s, when the USSR was still concerned about its status as the first Arctic power, 7 stationary and several seasonal scientific stations operated on the ice continent. Scientists conducted observations of space, weather, behavior human body V extreme conditions. Every summer, which at the pole is short and lasts only two months of December and January, ships of the Soviet Antarctic expedition approached the shores of the continent and unloaded food, fuel, construction materials and scientific equipment onto the soldered ice. Helicopters transferred cargo to the shore, and picked up polar explorers who had spent the winter from the shore. After making their rounds around coastal stations in mid-March, when winter begins in Antarctica, the icebreakers sounded their farewell horns and headed home. And a year later everything was repeated: from Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok and Nakhodka they went to South Pole Soviet Antarctic expeditions.

The icebreaker "Mikhail Somov" always departed from Leningrad. The management of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute did not see any big trouble in the disruption of navigation schedules due to untimely funding of expeditions. Experienced polar explorers knew how to work in extreme, and often even hopeless, situations. For the time being, Antarctic navigation ended happily.

The flagship ship of the 30th Antarctic Expedition "Mikhail Somov" left the Leningrad seaport on November 21, 1984, one month late. Already in the middle of the Antarctic summer, the icebreaker approached the Sea of ​​Cosmonauts and on January 2, 1985, having broken through a many-kilometer path of soldered ice, it “moored” at the Molodezhnaya station. The opening of late navigation was partly compensated by saving time on unloading. From the ship's holds, boxes with cargo were transferred directly to the shore, and then delivered to the station on the expedition ship "Pavel Korchagin".

During one of the re-moorings, the captain of the icebreaker "Mikhail Somov" landed the ship on underwater rocks. It was hard to believe, but the fact remained a fact. The captain of the flagship Sukhorukov was drunk. He was immediately removed from control of the ship and sent home on one of the expedition ships. The divers spent a week repairing the hull. After this, the team discussed the details of the ill-fated mooring for a long time. Soon, in early February, the Antarctic summer came to an end. When the icebreaking ship was completely unloaded at the Mirny station, Valentin Radchenko climbed onto the captain’s bridge.

Next, the flagship had to move to the most dangerous area - to the Russkaya station. The captain was not new to Antarctica and did not ask unnecessary questions, however, he had no other choice - the station had run out of food and fuel. The icebreaker had to get there even at the risk of its own life. We decided to first go to Australia for fuel, and only in March, when winter was already beginning, did the icebreaker Mikhail Somov enter the Ross Sea.

The area where the Russkaya station was built is still notorious among polar explorers around the world. This point in West Antarctica is called the “pole of winds.” In 1983, a meteorologist at this station managed to register a wind gust of 77 meters per second. Calm weather is very rare here. Hurricane winds almost 300 days a year. They easily move entire fields of pack ice and make the Ross Sea unsuitable for navigation.

When the icebreaker entered the Ross Sea in 1985, it was quiet at the “pole of the winds”. Unloading has begun. In 7 helicopter flights, we transferred all the food and fuel and changed winterers. People were in a hurry, because no one believed that the calm would last long. And so it happened - the sailors did not have time to finish unloading. The wind rose with gusts of up to 50 meters per second. Visibility became zero due to snow. The hurricane lasted for three days. In three days heavy ice regrouped completely and did not leave a single crack on the ship’s hull through which the icebreaker could reach clear water. "Mikhail Somov" was trapped in the ice.

Hydrologists estimate that about 200 thousand icebergs float in Antarctic waters. They are distributed unevenly across the water area, some more, some less. That winter, it seemed to the crew of the icebreaker, trapped in ice, that they were all concentrated near them. It was a real parade of icebergs.

On " mainland“There were meetings every day at the Arctic and Antarctic Institute. The situation in the Ross Sea was discussed and who knows what decision would have been made if changes had not occurred in the political life of the state. On March 10, General Secretary Chernenko died. He was replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev - a new leader with new ideas about the direction of the country. The emergency situation with the icebreaker was inappropriate, and Moscow was in no hurry to respond to radiograms from the disaster area. But Moscow’s inaction was dictated not only by attempts to hide what happened; scientists were confident that the icebreaker would bring it to clean water. After all, the captain on the same icebreaker ship had already drifted in the Barents Sea. Then everything ended well.

However, the head of the expedition and the captain asked scientists to pay attention to the fact that perennial pack ice of the Pacific massif was drifting near the station. In response to radiograms for help, orders came from Moscow with demands not to panic, because the Mikhail Somov, a diesel-electric icebreaker of the reinforced Arctic ice class, is not afraid of compression, if you do not take into account the crack received at the Molodezhnaya station. And very soon she reminded herself of herself in time with one of the movements of the ice. On board the ship there were building materials intended for the Leningradskaya station: logs, sheets of metal, cement. Soon everything went in to fix the hole. The ship's crew won battle after battle, and all this was an achievement of people who were very limited in their capabilities and actions. This couldn't go on for long.

The head of the expedition, Dmitry Maksutov, sent telegram after telegram to Moscow. And those at the top finally responded. The motor ship Pavel Korchagin, standing 300 km away in clear water, received a command to evacuate the crew of the icebreaker and polar explorers using the ship's helicopter. But at the same time, a team of volunteers must remain on the icebreaker, capable of independently bringing it to the port of Leningrad if the ship is freed.

The choice is actually a difficult test and it is not easy to make. Not everyone survived. The sailors, who maintained their composure at the sight of the iceberg heading towards them, now that they had the opportunity to escape, did not even care about how they looked in the eyes of those who remained on the icebreaker.

The icebreaker "Mikhail Somov" not drifting in the Ross Sea has 53 volunteers left. They were faced with the task of saving the ship. By mid-April, the captain received a radiogram from Moscow to stop official correspondence. The order was a direct consequence of a meeting at the State Hydrometeorological Committee, at which it was announced that there would be no rescue within a month. But the crew decided that they would hold out until the last. While there was one hour of daylight left in the day, the ship's helicopter flew ice reconnaissance. But unfortunately all the cracks led to nowhere.

The polar night had arrived, constant danger and the thought that no one would come to help plunged people into despair. Few people expected to return home. Discussion of the family topic stopped in the cabins; the conversation was too painful. Motionless, firmly frozen in 6-meter-thick ice, the diesel-electric ship has become part of the Antarctic landscape. It seemed that time stood still in the darkness of the polar night. In the cabins the sailors sat gloomy and detached.

But suddenly everything changed. The radio operator ran to the captain and said that they were talking about the icebreaker on the radio. Immediately after a foreign radio company broadcast a message about a Soviet ship abandoned in Antarctica, the captain immediately received a call from Moscow and was told that he was obliged to communicate with journalists. An expedition to rescue the ship was immediately formed, which included 5 journalists. It was the fourth month of the ship's drift when the first notes about the drama in the Ross Sea appeared in the Soviet press.

Options for rescuing the sailors began to be discussed. It seemed most reasonable to send a nuclear icebreaker to Antarctica. But according to the 1959 written treaty on Antarctica, it was recognized as a nuclear-free zone and only ordinary diesel icebreakers could be there. Finding someone willing to take on such a difficult task was not easy. Soon a captain was found who would not be pitied if the operation failed. He became Gennady Antokhin, who had some long-standing offenses against the party organization. Artur Chilingarov, a polar adventurer who knew how to take risks, was appointed head of the rescue expedition.

On June 12, 1985, the icebreaker Vladivostok left the port of the same name. The head of the expedition and the captain were very worried about one thing - the icebreaker "Mikhail Somov" was running out of fuel, every day the ship could be crushed by ice. The journey from the “mainland” took about 2 months due to the loss of speed during the passage through the area that sailors around the world call the roaring “forties”. The icebreaker is not suitable for sailing in clear water; even a slight swell throws it from side to side like a toy. And the Vladivostok was rocked by waves as high as a five-story building.

Soon the icebreaking ship entered Antarctic waters. Then the icebreaker moved on, changing course along the breaks and cracks. We walked around accumulations of multi-year ice. It seemed that the 36-year-old captain of the ship, Gennady Antokhin, knew the way through the ice by heart. During his watch, the expedition covered the greatest distances. But the further south you went, the heavier the ice was. And then what Chongarov feared most happened: the icebreaker “Vladivostok”, not reaching 170 km to its destination, itself fell into an ice trap. Then it was decided to send a helicopter to the damaged ship. At that time, the treacherous Pacific ice mass had been holding its spoils for the fifth month.

An unexpected hurricane unexpectedly freed the Vladivostok from ice captivity. Cracks appeared in the ice, and the icebreaker under its own power reached the emergency vessel. The sailors were rescued, and “Mikhail Somov” miraculously freed itself from ice captivity and safely arrived at its home port under its own power. On the “mainland” the sailors were greeted as heroes.

A special government commission was created to investigate the circumstances of the emergency off the coast of Antarctica. Its work was supervised by Andrei Gromyko. He demanded that satellite photographs be taken of the area in which the icebreaker Mikhail Somov was drifting. And I found out that in this area there were such hummocks that you couldn’t get out of there alive. All charges were dropped against Captain Rodchenko, and he was nominated for a Hero award Soviet Union, for preserving the lives of the crew entrusted to him. The head of the expedition, Chilingarov, was awarded the same title. The only participant in the Antarctic epic who received all the awards was Captain Antokhin, who made his way to the emergency ship on his icebreaker. The officials were never able to forgive their sins against the party organization.

The basis for the dramatic events was the late start of navigation. The chairman of the government commission, Andrei Gromyko, saw this as the main cause of the disaster.

And since there must be a culprit, they punished the Russkaya research station, which was closed. Now Americans are working in the Ross Sea area.

In 1985, at the very dawn of perestroika, the Soviet Union experienced an epic similar to the legendary rescue of the Chelyuskinites in the 1930s. As then, the expedition ship was covered in ice, and rescuing people became a matter for the entire country. The releases of the “Time” program, the country’s main news program, began with information about a ship captured in ice.

30 years later, the story of the rescue of the ship "Mikhail Somov" will become the reason for the creation action-packed film, "based on real events" However, the feature film remains feature film. True story“Mikhail Somov” is no less, and perhaps in some ways more heroic, than its on-screen reflection.

In October 1973, by order of the State Committee for Hydrometeorology and Hydrology of the USSR, a diesel-electric ship of the Amguema type, Project 550, was laid down at the Kherson Shipyard.

The new ship, designed for ice navigation with a thickness of solid ice up to 70 cm, became the 15th and last in the family of this project.

The ship, on which the State flag of the USSR was raised on July 8, 1975, was named in honor Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov, famous polar explorer, head of the North Pole-2 polar station and head of the first Soviet Antarctic expedition.

First drift

"Mikhail Somov" was transferred to the disposal of the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic. The ship was to ensure the delivery of people and cargo to Soviet scientific stations in Antarctica. The Somov's first voyage began on September 2, 1975.

Navigation in both the Arctic and Antarctica is difficult and sometimes very dangerous. For ships operating in these zones, “ice captivity” is an unpleasant, but quite common thing. Drifting on ice-bound ships traces its history back to the first Arctic explorers.

Modern ships, of course, are much better equipped, but they are not immune to such situations.

In 1977, the Mikhail Somov was captured in ice for the first time. While performing an operation to supply and change personnel at the Leningradskaya Antarctic station, the ship lost the ability to move in zone 8-10 point ice. On February 6, 1977, the Mikhail Somov began drifting in the ice of the Ballensky ice massif.

As already mentioned, this situation is unpleasant, but not catastrophic. Moreover, they managed to transfer both personnel and cargo from the ship to Leningradskaya.

Ice conditions began to improve by the end of March 1977. On March 29, “Mikhail Somov” escaped from captivity. During the 53-day drift, the ship covered 250 miles.

Ice trap in the Ross Sea

The story that made “Mikhail Somov” famous throughout the world took place in 1985. During the next voyage to Antarctica, the ship had to provide supplies and change winterers at the Russkaya station, located in the Pacific sector of Antarctica, near the Ross Sea.

This area is famous for its extremely heavy ice mass. The Somov's flight was delayed, and the ship approached the Russkaya very late, when the Antarctic winter had already begun.

All foreign ships are trying to leave the region by this time. "Somov" was in a hurry to complete the shift of winterers and unload fuel and food.

On March 15, 1985, there was a sharp increase in wind, and soon the ship was blocked by heavy ice floes. The ice thickness in this area reached 3-4 meters. The distance from the ship to the ice edge is about 800 kilometers. Thus, "Mikhail Somov" was firmly stuck in the Ross Sea.

We analyzed the situation with the help of satellites and ice aerial reconnaissance. It turned out that under the current conditions, Somov would independently emerge from the ice drift no earlier than the end of 1985.

During this time, the diesel-electric ship could have been crushed by ice, like the Chelyuskin. In this extreme case, a plan was being worked out to create an ice camp where the crew members would have to wait for rescue.

Another Soviet ship, the Pavel Korchagin, was on duty in relative proximity to the Somov. But “closeness” was considered by Antarctic standards - in fact, hundreds of kilometers lay between the ships.

Vladivostok comes to the rescue

Later a statement will appear - “Somova” was left to the mercy of fate, they started saving people too late. This, to put it mildly, is not true. In April, when it became clear that the situation would not be resolved in the near future, 77 people were evacuated by helicopter from the Mikhail Somov to the Pavel Korchagin. 53 people remained on the ship, led by captain Valentin Rodchenko.

In May, hope appeared - cracks appeared in the ice mass around Somov. It seemed that they were about to escape, but instead the winds began to blow the ice field and the ship to the south.

On June 5, 1985, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decides to organize a rescue expedition on the icebreaker Vladivostok.

We spent only five days on preparation and loading of equipment, helicopters, and fuel. On June 10, Vladivostok came to the rescue.

The crew led by the captain Gennady Anokhin a daunting task lay ahead. And it was not just the severity of the ice around the Somov.

"Vladivostok", like all icebreakers of this type, had an egg-shaped underwater part (to push it out during compression). At the same time, the ship had to pass through the “roaring” forties and “furious” fifties latitudes, where the icebreaker, due to the instability of the structure, could itself get into big trouble.

However, the Vladivostok reached New Zealand, took on board a cargo of fuel, and moved towards the shores of Antarctica.

"Flint" Chilingarov

The head of the rescue expedition was the head of the Personnel Department and educational institutions State Committee for Hydrometeorology Arthur Chilingarov. Among polar explorers, the appointment of an “official” caused, to put it mildly, conflicting opinions.

But here’s what one of the participants in the rescue expedition, a TASS correspondent, recalled in one of his interviews: Victor Gusev: “I have a very high opinion of Chilingarov. With some features of a Soviet functionary, for me this is a person from the century geographical discoveries. He is a scientist, a traveler, and just an enthusiastic person... And I was shocked in New Zealand. We went there on an icebreaker and took the required amount of fuel. We went to Somov and got caught in a storm! The icebreaker is not adapted to this - it was thrown from side to side... I felt sick for three days! At some point I thought: it would be nice if I died now. I still remember this disgusting splash of water! Three cans of apple juice were broken, the cabin was in fragments, the washbasin was torn off... The cooks were lying down, all the icebreakers. And Chilingarov moved around and cooked for those who wanted it - although there were few who wanted it. I ate alone. Flint".

Viktor Gusev is now known to everyone as a sports commentator on Channel One. But his sports career began just after the epic with the rescue of “Mikhail Somov”.

Battle for barrels

Everyone had to show heroism in this operation, and its outcome more than once hung in the balance. A dramatic situation arose with fuel barrels loaded in New Zealand.

In a long interview with Sport Express, Viktor Gusev recalled: “During the storm, they began to be washed overboard. Chilingarov mobilized everyone, including me. They tied the barrels to whatever they could tie them to. Chilingarov said: “I have calculated! If we lose half the barrels, the rest will be enough, let's move on. If it’s 51 percent, we have to go back.” They secured it in such a way that they lost about forty percent. What was left was really enough.”

At that moment, the Mikhail Somov was diligently saving food and fuel. To save fuel, even washing and bathing were carried out only twice a month. The crew freed the propeller and rudder from ice, sorted out the engines - after all, if these systems failed, the Somov would not have been helped by any outside support.

On July 18, 1985, Vladivostok met with Pavel Korchagin, after which it moved through the ice to the captive Somov.

July 23, 1985 Mi-8 helicopter under the control of a pilot Boris Lyalin landed next to Mikhail Somov. The helicopter delivered doctors and emergency supplies.

An ordinary miracle

But about 200 kilometers before Somov, Vladivostok itself got stuck in the ice.

From Victor Gusev’s interview with Sobesednik: “It was a truly critical situation. Then I saw and took part in something that I would never have believed if someone had told me. A giant rope with an anchor was lowered from the icebreaker. We all went out onto the ice in the middle of this Antarctica, made a hole and, having inserted an anchor into it, the whole team began to rock our Vladivostok... It turned out that rocking is a fairly common practice. But if someone once managed to pull an icebreaker out of the ice in this way, we didn’t succeed.”

But in the morning a miracle happened. The ice field, as if showing respect for the courage of the people, retreated from the Vladivostok.

On July 26, 1985, something happened that the entire Soviet Union was waiting for with bated breath. Moscow received the message: “On July 26 at 9.00, the icebreaker Vladivostok approached the last ice bridge before the Mikhail Somov. At 11.00 I walked around him and took him under the lead.”

There was no time for rejoicing - the Antarctic winter with severe frosts could slam the trap again at any moment. "Vladivostok" began to remove "Mikhail Somov" from the heavy ice zone.

Icebreaker Order

On August 13, the ships crossed the edge of the drifting ice and entered the open ocean. Six days later, the crews of the ships were greeted as heroes by the residents of New Zealand's Wellington.

After a four-day rest, the ships each set off on their own route - "Vladivostok" to Vladivostok, "Mikhail Somov" - to Leningrad.

The drift of "Mikhail Somov" lasted 133 days. In memory of this heroic epic, a commemorative medal was minted.

The head of the expedition, Artur Chilingarov, the captain of the "Mikhail Somov" Valentin Rodchenko and the pilot Boris Lyalin became Heroes of the Soviet Union, and other expedition members were awarded orders and medals. Correspondent Viktor Gusev, for example, received the medal “For Labor Valor.” In addition, TASS management granted his long-standing request to be transferred to the sports editorial office.

It is interesting that not only people were awarded, but also ships. The icebreaker "Vladivostok" was awarded the Order of Lenin, and the diesel-electric ship "Mikhail Somov" was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

"Somov" is still in service

In 1991, “Mikhail Somov” was again captured in ice. In July, during an operation to urgently evacuate an expedition from the Antarctic Molodezhnaya station, the ship was trapped in ice. On August 19 and 20, when the whole country was carried away by the State Emergency Committee, the pilots took the polar explorers and the Somov crew back to the Molodezhnaya station.

This time, no one sent an icebreaker to help the ship, but he was lucky - unlike the Soviet Union, the Mikhail Somov survived, and on December 28, 1991, he safely emerged from the ice drift.

31 years after its most famous adventure, the diesel-electric ship Mikhail Somov continues to work in the interests of Russia. It is used to supply Russian scientific expeditions in the Arctic, to deliver personnel, equipment and supplies to scientific stations, border outposts and other facilities, as well as to conduct scientific research Arctic ice.

The scientific expedition vessel "Mikhail Somov" is the last icebreaking transport diesel-electric ship in a series of seventeen Project 550 ships of the "Amguema" type, which was built between 1962 and 1975.

The R/V "Mikhail Somov" was built by the Kherson Shipyard by order of the State Committee for Hydrometeorology and Hydrology of the USSR. The vessel can be used in an icebreaking version with passage through solid ice up to 70 cm thick. When moving at full load, it breaks through ice fields up to 100 cm. When sailing in coarse ice, it overcomes ice up to 120–150 cm thick at 65% of the power of the power plant.

The vessel was laid down on October 10, 1974. Launched on February 28, 1975. The raising of the State Flag of the USSR took place on July 8, 1975. Transferred to the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic under the command of Captain M. E. Mikhailov on July 30, 1975. On September 2 of the same year it set out on its first voyage. Named after the famous Soviet Arctic explorer Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov (1908-1973).

R/V "Mikhail Somov" ("Mikhail Somov") IMO: 7518202, flag Russia, home port of Arkhangelsk, was built on June 30, 1975, construction number 3011. Shipbuilder: Kherson Shipyard, Kherson, USSR. Owner: FGU Hydrometflot, Russian Federation. Operator: Federal State Budgetary Institution Northern Territorial Administration for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring environment", Russian Federation.

RS class symbol: KM(*) ULA special purpose ship.

Main characteristics: Gross tonnage 7745 tons, deadweight 5305 tons, displacement 14135 tons. Length 133.13 meters, width 18.84 meters, side height 11.6 meters, draft 8.94 meters. Speed ​​11.4 knots in clear water. The crew is 40 people. Can accommodate up to 104 people. There is a helipad on board.

The vessel was engaged in the delivery of supplies in Antarctica to the TDS. Recent years used to supply Russian scientific expeditions in the Arctic, to deliver personnel, equipment and supplies to scientific stations, border outposts and other facilities, as well as to conduct scientific research on Arctic ice.

According to a message dated September 12, 2012, as part of the implementation of the federal program for the development of educational tourism, equipment and modular structures for new tourist houses were recently sent to Wrangel Island. On October 12, the ship to Arkhangelsk, which passed throughout the Northern sea ​​route and delivered cargo and specialists to hard-to-reach stations on the coasts and islands of 5 Arctic seas: the White, Barents, Kara, Laptev and East Siberian (the most eastern point flight - o. Wrangel). On October 21, for the third time on a voyage that will last more than a month. Return to Arkhangelsk is planned on November 26. The NES will deliver vital cargo to hard-to-reach stations in the White, Barents and Kara Seas. November 28 is the last navigation voyage of 2012.

On the night of May 15, 2013, the ship made its first voyage in 2013. On July 29, on the third Arctic voyage, which will last more than 80 days. On the night of July 29-30, on the main voyage from Arkhangelsk, which is the ship’s 50th anniversary. On the night of October 25-26 from the port of Arkhangelsk on the final navigation flight. December 10 from the last navigation voyage of the current year.

November 17, 2014 to the home port from a voyage to supply hard-to-reach Roshydromet stations.

April 15, 2015 from Arkhangelsk with the next batch of cargo intended for infrastructure construction Northern Fleet in the Arctic. According to a message dated April 24, a ship operating in the interests of the Northern Fleet to the island of Alexandra Land (Franz Josef Land archipelago) and began unloading 660 tons of construction materials and other cargo on board, intended for creating the infrastructure of the Northern Fleet in the Russian Arctic zone . On June 23, to Arkhangelsk from the first voyage to provide polar stations with vital cargo for work during the winter period of 2016-2017. On August 26, it left Arkhangelsk on its first voyage to supply polar stations with vital cargo, from which it should return in August. On September 1st, on the second import voyage from the port of Arkhangelsk, from which on November 17th. The vessel will be laid up for winter in the port of Arkhangelsk. On November 18, during control and verification activities in the seaport of Arkhangelsk, about 2 tons of illegally caught fish of various species (Siberian sturgeon, salmon, whitefish), as well as poaching gear, were on board the vessel.

When talking about Evgeniy Ivanovich Tolstikov, it was no coincidence that I told how the problem of providing the Ministry of Marine Fleet ships participating in the 30th Soviet Antarctic Expedition with fuel was solved. The 30th SAE was notable not only for its round number. And if the problem with fuel had not been resolved then, this could have jeopardized not only the implementation of the scientific program of the expedition, but also the lives of people. However, such a threat actually arose even in the absence of problems with fuel... The story will not be short. Apparently not for one post. But let's start in order.

Let me remind you that “Mikhail Somov” was built at the Kherson Shipyard. Reinforced ice class vessel. Length 133 m, beam 18.8 m, draft 9.05 m, displacement more than 14 thousand tons, main engine power - 7,000 hp, speed - 15 knots, displacement - 14,150 tons, load capacity - 7,800 tons .
On June 30, 1975, the flag was raised on the ship. A group of scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, led by its director A.F. Treshnikov, arrived from Leningrad for the celebrations. The wife of the famous polar explorer Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov also arrived - Leningrad writer Elena Pavlovna Serebrovskaya. She became the “godmother” of the ship.
The R/V "Mikhail Somov" became the flagship of Antarctic research of the AARI and the State Hydrometeorological Service.
Work in Antarctic waters is difficult and dangerous... Already on the second voyage, working as part of the fleet of the 22nd SAE, “Mikhail Somov” was captured by ice. The drift turned out to be not very long: less than two months - from February 6 to March 29, 1977, 53 days. The vessel, taking advantage of improved weather conditions and ice conditions, was able to independently reach clean water.
Second drift happened in 1985 during work on the program 30th SAE.
The ship left Leningrad, as always, late (this was already a bad tradition), this time by a month: ANIII could not promptly supply the ships with the necessary equipment and materials, or resolve financing issues. The director of the AARI at that time was Chilingarov’s protégé and friend B.A. Krutskikh, a very weak organizer (judging by personal experience). It is no coincidence that he received most of the awards after leaving the post of director. Captain Anatoly Sukhorukov led the Mikhail Somov to the shores of Antarctica. This was Sukhorukov's first voyage to Antarctica.
The ship approached the shores of Antarctica in the middle of a very short Antarctic summer. The first half of it was lost. The conditions were favorable: in the sea, the Cosmonauts were able to approach the Molodezhnaya station and begin unloading directly onto the fast ice.

(photos with captions are taken from Oleg Ostaptsov’s photo essay about the 30th SAE, the author’s captions under the photos are preserved).

Together with the Mikhail Somov, another ship approached, the Pavel Korchagin.
Re-moorings have begun. And then Captain Sukhorukov landed “Mikhail Somov” on the rocks! Not just planted. The impact was so strong that in the hull, in the area of ​​the tank fresh water, a crack formed and sea water entered the tank. And the sailors continued to drink salted tea for a long time. Moreover, turning away from the underwater rock, Sukhorukov managed to hit the ship again on the rocks with its cheekbone.
The captain of the flagship "Mikhail Somov" Anatoly Sukhorukov was completely drunk!
The drunken captain pulled the engine telegraph handle all the way: from “full forward” to “full back.”
Sukhorukov, on a command from Moscow, was removed from command of the ship, V.F. Rodchenko, an experienced ice navigator, a captain who sailed on icebreakers in the Arctic and repeatedly to the Antarctic on Hydromet ships, was appointed captain.

It took divers another week of the short summer to repair the Mikhail Somov.
"Mikhail Somov" together with "Pavel Korchagin", after a short call to Wellington for replenishment, went into the Davis Sea to the Mirny station, and the motor ship "Baikal" with winterers arrived here.

Winterers traveling to Leningradskaya and Russkaya stations switched to Somov.
Next, “Milail Somov” had to provide supplies and shifts for the winterers of the “Russkaya” station, then the “Leningradskaya” station. The Russkaya station is located in the Pacific sector of Antarctica, near the Ross Sea. In the Ross Sea, where Somov headed, there is the heaviest ice mass. No ships have operated here in winter yet. "Mikhail Somov" came here at the beginning of winter. He managed to approach the station within a helicopter's shoulder distance, change winter workers and, in part, supply the station. On March 15, 1985 (this, by the way, is the date when all foreign ships leave Antarctica), the weather worsened sharply, and hurricane winds rose. Heavy ice closed in, pinning the ship. "Mikhail Somov" found itself in a forced drift near the coast of Antarctica near the Hobs Coast. He was dragged into an area clogged with stranded icebergs. This is a very big danger: the ship can be pressed against the iceberg and crushed against it by the pressing ice. Rodchenko managed to maneuver out of the area where the icebergs were concentrated, avoiding the greatest danger. But soon the ship’s propellers and rudder became jammed with ice, and it lost the ability to move. A month later, it was decided to leave a minimum crew on the Mikhail Somov, and transfer part of the crew and expedition members by helicopter to the Pavel Korchagin, which was on duty at the edge of the ice. On April 17, the evacuation by helicopter was completed. A total of 77 people were evacuated. 53 people remained on the Mikhail Somov.

The R/V Akademik Shirshov, which interrupted its work in the Indian Ocean (again, not to be confused with the space fleet vessel Akademik Pyotr Shirshov of the USSR Academy of Sciences),

The steamship "Captain Myshevsky", which arrived in the same area, provided supply and replacement of winterers at the Leningradskaya station with the help of helicopters.

“Pavel Korchagin” remained all the time at the edge of the ice, protecting “Mikhail Somov”. The distance between them increased. By June it exceeded 800 km. The situation of “Mikhail Somov” became more and more difficult. The loss of strength of the vessel as a result of the resulting crack in the hull also affected. Unloading supplies at several stations made the ship lighter; the Mikhail Somov found itself without ballast. The waterline, where the reinforced ice belt ran, rose high above sea level, exposing the less protected underwater part of the hull to ice. In addition, this practically deprived the ship of its icebreaking qualities: the bow, with which the ship pricks the ice and crawls onto it, pressing and breaking it with its mass, turned out to be above sea level, the mass of the ship decreased and did not allow crushing heavy ice... Arose real threat to be crushed by ice. The frames, unable to withstand the onslaught of ice, began to burst. The compression was so strong that huge ice floes jumped onto the deck of the ship. The crew began to prepare everything necessary for landing on the ice in the event emergency situation. The drift continued for more than three and a half months. Only on June 5, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to organize a rescue expedition on an icebreaker. It would be easier to send a nuclear-powered ship, but Antarctica is a nuclear-free zone and nuclear-powered ships are not allowed to enter its waters. The Far Eastern Shipping Company allocated the icebreaker "Vladivostok".
The Vladivostok was built in Finland and launched in 1969. Main engine power is 26 thousand hp, speed in clear water is 18.6 knots/hour, displacement is 13290 tons, maximum length is 122 m, width is 24.5 m, maximum draft is 10.5 m. The crew size is 109 people. Big thing!
A specially equipped Mi-8 helicopter was delivered from Moscow by transport plane. A scientific and operational group of hydrometeorological workers was formed, and equipment was installed to receive satellite images. The Head of the Department of Personnel and Educational Institutions of the State Skromgidromet, A. N. Chilingarov, was approved by the order of the Council of Ministers as the head of the expedition. A headquarters was created at AARI to direct the operation. It was headed by his deputy. Director of the AARI Hero of Social Labor N.A. Kornilov (he could be seen in the photo celebrating the 50th anniversary of SP-1; I personally know Nikolai Alexandrovich very well and deeply respect him, a very competent and intelligent person!).
The icebreaker set sail from Vladivostok on June 10 under the command of experienced ice captain Gennady Antokhin. I went to Nakhodka, where 800 barrels of fuel for helicopters and two tanks of diesel fuel for the Mikhail Somov were taken onto the deck of the ship.
The passage of an icebreaker, adapted for navigation and work in ice, with an egg-shaped underwater part (to push it out during compression) through the roaring forties and frantic fifties latitudes was a nightmare. Incessant storms, waves as high as a five-story building... Sometimes the ship was completely buried in the waves, the list reached 42 degrees. The pitching was so strong and sharp that the sailors began to fear that the main engines would be torn off their foundations. Andrei Provorkin (my classmate!), who was involved in deciphering satellite images and partially making meteorological observations, saw in the satellite images a narrow strip of relatively calm sea, the passage of the Vladivostok there allowed the ship to safely pass the dangerous area, not counting such trifles as the loss of 200 barrels of kerosene, broken railings and a metal ladder cut off by a wave, welded to two decks.
On the 20th of July 1985, the Vladivostok approached the ice bridge that separated the Mikhail Somov from clean water. I established a connection with him. On July 23, 1985, the Mi-8 helicopter (commander B.V. Lyalin) landed on the starboard side of the R/V Mikhail Somov. The helicopter delivered the head of the expedition, A.N. Chilingarov, head scientific works B.A. Krutskikh, hydrologist and medical personnel.
Having entered the dam, “Vladivostok” at some point found itself trapped in ice. But the weather conditions improved, the wind changing direction somewhat cleared the ice.
The icebreaker neared the Mikhail Somov and on August 11, both vessels reached clear water.
The Mikhail Somov drifted for 133 days.
This was, however, not his last drift.
Many participants in this epic were awarded state awards, three of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union, some were also encouraged by their departments. But we will talk about this in more detail next time.

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On March 15, 1985, the ship "Mikhail Somov" was blocked in the Antarctic ice. The diesel-electric ship found itself in a forced drift off the Hobs Coast. The ship's crew waited 133 days for their release. An expedition on the icebreaker "Vladivostok" was equipped to rescue polar explorers.

The ship "Mikhail Somov" received its name in honor of the famous Soviet polar explorer Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov. The scientific expedition vessel was laid down in October 1974 by order of the State Committee for Hydrometeorology and Hydrology of the USSR, and launched in February of the following year.

The diesel-electric ship took part in more than 20 expeditions to Antarctica, where the hydrometeorological and ice regimes of the Southern Ocean were studied, and hydrographic work, physics and mechanics research was carried out sea ​​ice. In addition, the ship delivered to Antarctic stations winterers, as well as food and various cargoes.

133 days of "captivity"

In 1985, "Mikhail Somov" worked as part of the 30th Soviet Antarctic Expedition. In mid-February, the ship called at New Zealand to purchase food and supplies. Then it was supposed to go to the area of ​​the Russkaya station in the Ross Sea.

On March 7, the diesel-electric ship approached the coastal fast ice, a distance of 25 miles from the station. The unloading of supplies began, but it soon became clear that this risked ending up in ice captivity. In mid-March, a hurricane passed through the Somov parking area and lasted three days.

On March 15, the ship began its 133-day drift in the Pacific ice mass. A decision was made to evacuate the sick and part of the crew from the ship, leaving only a group of volunteers on board. According to some reports, the decision to send a rescue expedition was made after Western media reported about the ship. The government commission decided to send the icebreaker Vladivostok to Somov. The expedition was led by Artur Chilingarov.

On July 26, 1985, the Vladivostok broke the ice around the diesel-electric ship and freed its crew from a long blockade. Both vessels reached clear water on August 11. Many participants in this expedition were awarded state awards. Thus, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 14, 1986, for the exemplary performance of the task of freeing the scientific expedition vessel "Mikhail Somov" from the ice of the Antarctic, skillful management of ships during rescue operations and during the period of drift, and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, to the head of the rescue expedition on the icebreaker "Vladivostok" Artur Chilingarov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

The ships themselves also received awards ("Vladivostok" - Order of Lenin, "Mikhail Somov" - Order of the Red Banner of Labor). Actually high level An investigation into the incident was initiated, but based on the results of the inspection, no one was punished.

"Second life" of the vessel

After these dramatic events, "Mikhail Somov" was sent for repairs, after which he continued work. Not everyone knows that in the summer of 1991, as part of another Antarctic expedition, the ship was again captured by ice in the area of ​​Molodezhnaya station. However, after a short drift the ship managed to free itself.

In the mid-1990s, Mikhail Somov made its last Antarctic voyage. It was replaced by a new vessel for work in Antarctica - the Akademik Fedorov. In 1999, the ship was transferred to the balance of the Northern Administration for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. Currently, it is used to supply Russian scientific expeditions in the Arctic, as well as to conduct scientific research on Arctic ice.