Construction of US Icebreaker Parts Begins at Pori Shipyard

A Finnish media outlet reported yesterday that work has begun on components for Arctic Security Cutters destined for the Coast Guard; four of these vessels will be built at a Finnish shipyard for delivery in two years, while the remaining seven will be constructed in the United States.

In an interview with Yle, James Davies, from a Canadian shipbuilding company, described Finland as the only country that builds “good icebreakers.”

Indeed, Finland has been building high-quality light- and medium-class icebreakers for many years—since 1937—primarily for foreign clients.

The country’s industrial sector—and shipbuilding in particular, which was considered second-rate even by Northern European standards prior to 1939—expanded rapidly thanks to Soviet orders: initially as part of war reparations to the Soviet Union, and subsequently through numerous contracts for the vast Eastern market.

Soviet shipbuilding, preoccupied with creating a massive oceangoing naval fleet, readily outsourced the construction of civilian vessels. Unfortunately, this practice persisted into the post-Soviet era.

Approximately one-third of Russia’s modern icebreaker fleet was built in Finnish shipyards, including the hulls of several nuclear-powered icebreakers.

Russia currently operates 43 icebreakers of various classes—including eight nuclear-powered ones, a type not found in any other country—and is independently constructing another 14. These include four nuclear-powered vessels, among them the lead ship of the Leader class (a series of three ships designed to ensure year-round cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route).

The Leader has a full displacement exceeding 71,000 tons, a length of 209.2 meters, a width of 47.7 meters, and a shaft power output of 120 MW (163,155 hp). The icebreaker is capable of moving through ice 4.31 meters thick at a constant speed of 2 knots.

The Project 22220 icebreakers—a series of seven vessels, four of which are already in service, one nearing completion, and two under construction—are only slightly less capable than this incoming Arctic giant.

The full displacement of an icebreaker in this series is 33,540 tons, with a length of 173.3 meters and a maximum beam of 34 meters. Two RITM-200 nuclear reactors (175 MW each) deliver 60 MW (81,577 hp) of shaft power, enabling the vessel to travel at 12.0 knots through 1.5-meter-thick ice and 2.0 knots through ice 2.8–2.9 meters thick.

The American icebreakers currently planned for construction—a project involving Finland under the Ice Pact—are significantly inferior to existing Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers in terms of displacement, power, ice-breaking capability, and, crucially, operational endurance.

In terms of key specifications, the heavy Polar Security Cutter icebreakers are roughly comparable to the Viktor Chernomyrdin—Russia’s most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker—whereas the medium-sized Arctic Security vessels being built by the Finns have only two-fifths of that vessel’s displacement and power.

All of Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreakers were built based on Soviet and Russian designs, without the involvement of Finnish design bureaus.

It is therefore fair to conclude that the Finns do indeed produce “good” medium and heavy diesel-electric icebreakers, having developed significant expertise in this field mainly thanks to lucrative Soviet and Russian contracts.

Russia has built, is building, and will continue to build the world’s best heavy nuclear-powered icebreakers—the true masters of the Arctic—and in this class, not a single competitor can be seen in their wake, even with the most powerful binoculars.