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    Re: Polar Possessions of the SU. was: Lunars with SNO-T
    From: Alexandre Eremenko
    Date: 2004 Oct 25, 11:46 -0500

    Dear George,
    After I touched this topic, I soon realize
    that this can be almost completely unknown
    in the West. For example, my Encyclopaedia
    Brittanica of 1960 does not mention ANY Soviet
    activities in the Arctic. Unfortunately all I read
    on the subject, I read while in Soviet Union, that is
    20-30 years ago, so I can rely on my memory only.
    If there is interest to it, I can try to find
    some literature here in the US.
    
    On Mon, 25 Oct 2004, George Huxtable wrote:
    
    > Alex Eremenko provided the following information, which intrigued me.
    
    > And
    > presumably every ship in the convoy would have to be suitably
    > ice-strengthened for overwintering.
    
    They had several harbors on the way to spend the winter.
    Dikson and Dudinka are the names that first come to my mind.
    
    > that's what I read in the "Voyage of the Chelyuskin", translated by Alec
    > Brown, (Chatto and Windus 1935), who refers to the first one-season
    > passage, as far back as 1933, of the icebreaker Sibiryakov, Eastbound. He
    > wrote "It was not an easy success. The ship lost her screw and made the
    > final part of the trip under canvas." That's an image to conjure with, the
    > thought of an icebreaker under sail...
    
    Cheluskin story made headlines in 1930-s, and still remembered.
    The systematic commercial exploatation of the Northern Sea Passage
    began later, and reached its peak when the nuclear icebreakers
    were built. The first of them "Lenin" was built before the
    first nuclear submarines (probably in 1954) and Soviets were wery proud of
    it as an
    early example of the "peaceful use of the nuclear energy".
    At some point (in the 80-s?) "Lenin" was trashed, and I recently
    saw on e-bay a "chronometer from the icebreaker Lenin".
    
    > Complete disaster, but treated as
    > a Soviet triumph in terms of the rescue of the participants.
    
    Yes, this happened 20 years before I was born, but I remember
    very well the reverberations of
    this propaganda campain even in my time.
    
    > I would like to learn more about the modern Northern sea-route. Is there a
    > recommended publication in English? Does it still operate? How big are the
    > convoys? Where do the ships  over-winter?
    
    I will try to find out.
    
    Alex.
    
    P.S. In my time, (1960-80) much of the Arctic exploration
    was classified. For example I remember that any mentioning
    of the "research on the gravitational field in Arctic" in
    research papers was banned in open publications.
    (Every research paper on
    any subject
    whatsoever had to be submitted to censorship.)
    I suppose this was because of the ICBM navigation and possibly
    the submarine navigation: the shortest path from the US to Russia
    goes through Arctic:-)
    
    
    

       
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