Mudyug (icebreaker)

In 1977, Wärtsilä began developing a new icebreaker concept in close co-operation with experts from the Soviet Union. Although the Finnish shipbuilder had delivered more icebreaking vessels than any other shipyard in the world, they had all been diesel-electric vessels where diesel generators powered electric propulsion motors driving fixed-pitch propellers. In the new icebreakers, this fairly expensive specialized drivetrain would be replaced with cheaper and more efficient mechanical transmission where the main diesel engines would be connected to controllable pitch propellers through a reduction gearbox. An extensive research program was initiated by Wärtsilä Arctic Design and Marketing (WADAM) to ensure that the new concept was viable and that the problems encountered the recently commissioned United States Coast Guard Polar-class icebreakers would be avoided.[13][17]

In April 1980, Wärtsilä and the Soviet Union signed a FIM 400 million shipbuilding contract for the construction of three icebreakers to escort ships in the freezing subarctic ports. The vessels, first of which would be delivered in late 1982 and the two following ones in 1983, would be stationed in the Barents Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and Baltic Sea.[6]

The lead ship, Mudyug, was laid down at Hietalahti shipyard on 30 December 1980 and launched together with the second icebreaker of the series, Magadan, on 16 April 1982.[2] Shortely before the delivery of the vessel on 29 October 1982, Mudyug's engine room accidentally flooded with water at quayside due to a faulty seacock.[7]

In October 1986,[18] Mudyug was retrofitted with new bow with the intention of improving the vessel's icebreaking capability by a factor of 1.5 without increasing its propulsion power.[19] The icebreaker's traditional wedge-shaped bow was replaced with a so-called Thyssen-Waas bow developed by Thyssen Nordseewerke in cooperation with the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt; HSVA).[9] The pontoon-shaped bow, which broke ice by shearing instead of traditional bending, had been previously tested in the early 1980s on the 55-metre (180 ft) German icebreaker Max Waldeck.[20]

While initial ice trials in Svalbard demonstrated that the new bow had improved Mudyug's icebreaking capability significantly,[18] the barge-like bow worked well only in unbroken level ice. In broken ice and rubble on shipping lanes, it had a tendency of pushing the ice in front of the vessel.[21][22] Due to these limitations, Mudyug was eventually considered unsuitable for icebreaking in the Arctic seas and transferred to the Baltic Sea in the late 1990s.[1]

Mudyug was delivered to the Northern Shipping Company in 1982 and was deployed to escort ships to and from Arkhangelsk in the White Sea.[23] In July 2006, the icebreaker was transferred to Rosmorport and its homeport changed to Saint Petersburg where the vessel had already operated since the late 1990s.[1] As of 2020, Mudyug remains in service in the Gulf of Finland.[4]

On 17 November 2013, Mudyug's lifeboat was destroyed when a strong gust of wind pushed the passenger ferry Princess Maria against the docked icebreaker. There were no injuries onboard either vessel and the ferry docked safely at the passenger terminal after the collision.[24]

On 25 January 2018, bulk carrier S-Bronco collided with Mudyug outside Saint Petersburg. While the merchant ship suffered superficial damage above waterline, there was no visible damage on the icebreaker.[25]

Mudyug has regularly participated in the annual Festival of Icebreakers in Saint Petersburg. The icebreaker has been open to visitors in four consecutive years between 2016 and 2019.[26][27][28][29]