Kapitan Khlebnikov in Fast Ice

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Kapitan Khlebnikov in pack ice


The Kapitan Khlebnikov is a powerful ice-breaker and so can steam through ice such as this at a rate of several knots.

In this case, the fast ice is flat and continuous but quite thin, the ship has to actively break it, but due to its relative thinness, it breaks into small pieces leaving icy rubble that can be seen to the sides of the path the ship has taken. Ice breakers are often used to make paths such as this for other shipping that is not sufficiently ice strengthened or powerful enough to break a path through themselves.



Photo; © Mike Usher - Pictures from an icebreaker cruise to Eastern Antarctica.