Fyodor Litke (1909 icebreaker)
| History | |
|---|---|
 USSR
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| Name: | Фёдор Литке / Fyodor Litke |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Launched: | 1909 |
| Out of service: | August 1958 |
| Status: | Scrapped 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Icebreaking freighter |
| Displacement: | 4,850 tonnes |
| Installed power: | 7,000 hp (5,200 kW) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
The icebreaker Fyodor Litke (SKR-18, Russian: Фёдор Литке, СКР-18) was active in the Soviet era in the Arctic, until the late 1950s. It was built in 1909 in England for the Saint Lawrence River service and initially named CGC Earl Grey after Albert Grey, Governor General of Canada. After four years in Canada it was sold to the Russian government and eventually renamed Fyodor Litke in honour of the Arctic explorer Fyodor Petrovich Litke.
Litke became famous for its Arctic operations in 1932–1935, survived World War II and was retired in 1958 after nearly 50 years of service. Unlike conventional icebreakers that crush ice with their own weight from above, Litke belonged to an older generation of vessels, relying on ramming and cutting ice without any downward movement. For this reason, Litke was uniquely classified as an ice-cutter (Russian: ледорез) or icebreaking steamship (Russian: ледокольный пароход), rather than a true icebreaker.
Albert Grey, the ninth Governor General of Canada, paid his first visit to the Hudson Bay area in 1910, returning home in a luxuriously-appointed suite on board an icebreaker bearing his name, CGS Earl Grey. Grey was interested in the construction of a coastal railroad, establishing new seaports (including Port Nelson) and charting the waters of Hudson Bay.
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