SA-15 (ship)
The first SA-15 class cargo ship, Norilsk.
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| Class overview | |
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| Builders: |
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| Operators: | |
| Subclasses: | SA-15 Super |
| Built: | 1982–1987 |
| In service: | 1982– |
| Completed: | 19 |
| Active: | 2 |
| Scrapped: | 17 |
| General characteristics (SA-15) | |
| Type: | Ro-ro/General cargo ship |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 24.55 m (80 ft 7 in) |
| Height: | 51.50 m (169 ft 0 in) from keel |
| Draught: |
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| Depth: | 15.2 m (49 ft 10 in) |
| Ice class: | ULA |
| Installed power: | 2 × Wärtsilä-Sulzer 14ZV40/48 (2 × 7,700 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Single shaft; KaMeWa CPP, ⌀ 5.6 m (18 ft 4 in) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) (design) |
| Range: | 16,000 nautical miles (30,000 km; 18,000 mi) |
| Endurance: | 60 days |
| Crew: | Accommodation for 42 |
| Notes: | As designed; minor differences between ships as well as with SA-15 Super |
SA-15 is the project name for a series of icebreaking multipurpose cargo ships built in Finland for the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The ships, capable of independent operation in all prevailing arctic ice conditions, were the first merchant vessels designed for year-round operations in the Northern Sea Route. For this purpose they have hulls that resemble those of polar icebreakers and propulsion systems capable of withstanding ice loads.
While the ships are also known as the Norilsk class after the first ship, Norilsk, they are usually referred to by their project name which denotes a subarctic 15,000 DWT cargo ship. Nineteen SA-15 class ships were delivered by Finnish shipbuilders Wärtsilä and Valmet in 1982–1987, and as of 2016[update] two vessels remain in service.
Maintaining year-round traffic in the Northern Sea Route, especially between Murmansk and Dudinka that were the most important ports in the Soviet arctic region, had always been a high priority to the Soviet Union due to the economic exploitation of the vast natural resources of the northern regions. Northern Sea Route is also an important link between Europe and Asia as it significantly reduces the transit time in comparison to the route through the Suez Canal. While the Soviet Union had constructed a large fleet of ice-strengthened cargo ships, they could not keep up with the large nuclear-powered icebreakers and were often damaged by ice during towing operations. In order to prevent this, a fundamentally new type of cargo ship was needed.
In the late 1970s Sudoimport, the Soviet foreign trade organization with a monopoly for the foreign trade of ships, requested for tenders for the design and construction of 20,000 DWT arctic cargo ships according to the specifications laid out by the Ministry of the Merchant Marine of the Soviet Union (MORFLOT). In terms of hull strength and engine power, these ships were to be in par with icebreakers that would escort them through the most difficult ice conditions.
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