Museum-icebreaker "Angara"

The icebreaker Angara is a steam ship that was part of the Soviet, and later Russian, fleet. It was built before the October Revolution, nowadays it is used as a ship-museum. It is considered one of the oldest icebreakers in the world, along with Swedish and Finnish vessels.

Construction of the icebreaker

The birthday of the icebreaker "Angara" is considered July 25, 1900, when the ship was launched in the village Listvenichnom (Irkutsk region). The ship itself was built in English Newcastle. In Russia, it was delivered in disassembled form.

The customer of this ship in tsarist Russia was the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway. Prior to that, he already had a successful experience of cooperation with British shipbuilders - the acquisition in 1898 of the icebreaker Baikal, which operated on the lake of the same name until 1918.

Both ships were ordered with one purpose - to provide ferry for railroad train across the Russian lake. The ferry was organized for a time, until the railway tracks were built around the huge reservoir.

Ferry "Baikal" was small and low-power, so the main task of the "Angara" was laying the way in the ice for his younger brother. "Baikal" could not guarantee the safe transportation of goods if the thickness of the ice exceeded 70 centimeters. And in that climate it often happened that the ice was much thicker.

Thus, "Angara" and "Baikal" made regular flights until 1906. It was then that the construction of the Circum-Baikal Highway was completed, and the urgent need for icebreakers disappeared. Money, as always, was not enough, so for a decade the ships were not necessary for anyone.

The second life of the icebreaker

The icebreaker Angara began its second life in 1916. The traffic on the Circum-Baikal Highway by this time was loaded so much that it could not cope with the entire traffic flow.

After the victory of the October Revolution, the icebreaker Angara, like all then in the country, was nationalized. His new destination was passenger transportation.

And when the Civil War began, the ship was converted to combat. It was equipped with six-inch guns and machine guns. It participated in raids on the destruction of Czechoslovak military units based on the shores of Lake Baikal.

In 1918, after the vicinities of Lake Baikal were in the hands of whites, the Angara was disarmed and handed over to the control of the Baikal railway crossing. The ship again became a passenger.

In 1920, during the escape of the "whites" on board the ship, a massacre of hostages of the Irkutsk prison was committed. The prisoners were stripped to their underwear and taken to the deck. The death sentence was executed by the Cossack Lukin on the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Sipailo. He beat every prisoner on the head with a wooden beater, which in peacetime was used to chop ice. After that the body of the victim was dropped overboard.

Thus, White executed 31 supporters of the Political Center - a short-lived government that led Irkutsk for less than three months and was in opposition to the famous White Admiral Kolchak.

Red troops returned to Irkutsk only in late spring. Then the icebreaker "Angara", a photo of which is in this article, was again drafted into military service. The vessel was used to fight the remnants of Kolchak and Kapelle detachments. In this way, the icebreaker was used almost until the very end of the Civil War - October 1922.

Icebreaker "Angara": characteristics

The length of the ship is 61 meters, and the width is almost 11 meters. Height - just over 7.5 meters. Draft is almost 5 meters. The icebreaker Angara (Irkutsk) has a displacement of 1,400 tons. For those times the ship met all the characteristics of ships of this class.

Icebreaker "Angara" was equipped with four fire-fighting boilers of locomobile type. Also on the ship was a triple-expansion steam engine.

The speed of the icebreaker "Angara" in km / h was more than 23 units. On the engine was installed one propeller. The vessel accommodated 160 passengers, not counting the crew members. The register tonnage is 250 tons.

Icebreaker in the Soviet Union

After the end of the Civil War, the icebreaker Angara, whose history was well known to the residents of Irkutsk and the region, was once again used as a passenger ship. In 1929, he crashed when he returned from Kurbulik Bay. Then the ship was saved, but it was subject to major repairs because of the large number of damages received as a result of the accident.

The second large-scale reconstruction of the Angara was planned for May 1941 and postponed in connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

Icebreaker in a new war

This time the icebreaker was used as a cargo ship. He was carrying barges with fish. In this capacity, he worked until 1949, when he still had to stand up for a major overhaul because of an extremely worsened technical condition.

At this time there were sudden complications with the use of the old slipway. As a result, the repair dragged on for more than 10 years. Only in 1960 "Angara" again was able to go on a campaign. But not for long.

In 1962, the icebreaker was finally excluded from the composition of the ships that are part of the active fleet, in connection with unsatisfactory technical condition and moral depreciation. At that time, the place of the Angara was already occupied by more modern and high-speed vessels.

Until 1967, the icebreaker was in a sump, then was transferred to the Irkutsk Reservoir. There it began to be used for the intended purpose by the local DOSAAF office.

Start on metal

"Putting on needles" or "letting on metal" - that's what they say about decommissioned ships that are expected to be utilized. It is very likely that the same fate awaited and "Angara", but she was saved by a lucky chance.

About the icebreaker was simply forgotten. He was not cut to metal, as was the case in such cases. And the ship stayed in the Irkutsk reservoir for many years.

Remembered about the ship only in 1982, when it was decided to tow it to the Irkutsk HPP. The ship was in the center of the city, on its basis it was decided to open a museum of local lore.

The icebreaker was parked in the Solnechny microdistrict (Irkutsk). The museum did not have time to do it. In 1983, a major fire broke out on the ship. It almost completely burned out and almost drowned again. In this state, the icebreaker spent another 4 years in the Irkutsk Reservoir.

Restoration of the ship

All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments decided to restore the icebreaker Angara. The museum is for what purpose you can use a ship with a long and fascinating history. Work on the implementation of this idea was carried out for three years.

In November 1990 the steamer was solemnly put on an eternal camp in the Irkutsk Reservoir.

Exposition of the museum

Since then, the museum has been operating on the basis of this vessel. The icebreaker "Angara" (Irkutsk) changed its appearance again and this time began to take everyone on deck.

The main exposition of the museum is divided into two main parts. Firstly, visitors are told about the history of navigation on Lake Baikal, which is more than one century old, then the history of the icebreaker "Angara" itself.

The first set of exhibits, devoted to the general history of shipping in these places, is divided into several sections. This acquaintance with the way of life and life of Siberians of these places, since ancient times. Also detailed is the state shipping: the Irkutsk Admiralty, which was responsible for all ships and piers during tsarist Russia, and navigational school, preparing new captains and naval officers.

Special attention is paid to the work of private shipping companies on Lake Baikal. One of them was the icebreaker "Angara". Also, visitors can learn about the development of the Baikal railway crossing, after the construction of which appeared an alternative waterway. Carefully to our time, the history of the East Siberian Shipping Company has been studied.

In that part of the exhibition, which is dedicated directly to the icebreaker, presents original photographs and documentary evidence of how his destiny developed. You can see the personal belongings of the former crew members. The boat tour ends in the engine room - the heart of any ship. Here you can see firsthand the work of a machine built by an English company.

Captains of the icebreaker

For his fate on the icebreaker was not one captain, who led the "Angara". Captain Mazur was the first to take control of the ship back in 1900. The last - Nikolay Zubkov, finally put the ship in the port in 1963-m.

A major role in the fate of the "Angara" played George Lazo. He is a native of Irkutsk, 14 years younger than an icebreaker. He dreamed of a sailor's career from an early age. After the seven-year course, I could not enter any of the technical schools and went to Listvyanka to the pier. He started working as a sailor when he was only 16 years old.

Returning from the campaign, entered the captain's courses and received the appropriate title. Since 1941, he first worked as an assistant to the captain on the Angara, and then directly as a captain.

It was Lazo who directed the ship's staging in 1953, when the ship seriously needed major repairs.

How to get to the icebreaker "Angara"?

In order to see the boat with your own eyes, you need to personally come to Irkutsk. Here you can not only enjoy the beauty of Baikal, but also get on this legendary ship.

He is standing in the Irkutsk reservoir in the microdistrict Solnechny. The exposition is accessible to visitors five days a week, except Mondays and Tuesdays. The doors of the icebreaker museum are open from 10.00 to 18.00.

It should be noted that this is a non-commercial project that does not receive financial assistance from the state. The author and the main creator of the composition is the activist Eduard Hawailer, known in Irkutsk.

At the same time, the project was repeatedly noted at various museum competitions. So, in 2003 he received a first degree diploma at the contest "Historical Monuments of My Little Motherland". In his active and many other prestigious awards.