The press service of the Eastern District on January 25, 2023 reported that the icebreaker Evpatiy Kolovrat of project 21180M, built at Almaz Shipbuilding Company JSC in St. Petersburg for the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, began to make a sea crossing from St. Petersburg to its future permanent base in Kamchatka - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The icebreaker performs a sea crossing through the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Earlier in Kamchatka, a crew of about 30 people was formed for the icebreaker under the command of Captain Roman Arkhipov. Upon arrival in Kamchatka, the icebreaker Evpatiy Kolovrat will serve as part of the Troops and forces in the North-East of Russia. His admission to the fleet is expected this year.
The icebreaker "Evpatiy Kolovrat" (factory number 800) of the 21180M project built at JSC "Almaz Shipbuilding Company" for the Russian Navy at the wall of JSC "Baltic Plant" before entering the factory sea trials. Saint Petersburg, 05.10.2022 (c) Curious / forums.airbase.ruIt is reported that the Yevpatiy Kolovrat left St. Petersburg for Kamchatka on January 15, 2023, without a crew in tow of the Sarmat civil tug.
The icebreaker began factory sea trials in the Baltic on December 1, 2022, but its commissioning and flag raising should take place already in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The Yevpatiy Kolovrat is to become a raid icebreaker to ensure, first of all, the basing of the 25th division of submarines of the Pacific Fleet in Vilyuchinsk in Kamchatka, equipped with new nuclear-powered strategic missile submarines of the Project 955 series.
Recall that the laying ceremony for the Russian Navy of the head diesel-electric icebreaker project 21180M, named "Evpatiy Kolovrat" (factory number 800), took place at Almaz Shipbuilding Company JSC in St. Petersburg on December 12, 2018. The developer of the 21180M project is JSC "Vimpel Design Bureau" (Nizhny Novgorod). The state contract for the construction of the head icebreaker of the 21180M project, worth, as reported, about 6 billion rubles, was issued by SF Almaz in 2017. The icebreaker Evpatiy Kolovrat was launched on November 24, 2020.
The 21180M project is a reduced and cheaper version of the diesel-electric icebreaker of the 21180 project (also developed by the Vimpel Design Bureau), according to which the Ilya Muromets icebreaker (factory number 02470) with a total displacement of about 6000 tons was built earlier at Admiralty Shipyards JSC in St. Petersburg, delivered to the Russian Navy on November 30, 2017 and became part of the Northern Fleet.
Initially, it was reported that the Russian Navy plans to build four icebreakers of the 21180 project in total. However, at the beginning of 2017, it became known that the Russian Ministry of Defense, for financial reasons, decided to abandon the continuation of the construction of the project 21180 series and proceed to the construction of shallow-seated icebreakers of the modified 21180M project with a total displacement of about 4,000 tons.
The icebreaker of the 21180M project, according to published data, has a total displacement of 4080 tons (against 6000 tons of the icebreaker of the 21180 project), a length of 82 m (85 m), a width of 19 m (20 m) and a draft of 4.6 m (against 7 m). The speed is 14 knots (15 knots), the cruising range is 7,600 miles (9,000 miles), the autonomy is halved to 30 days (instead of 60 days). The crew is 30 people (32). The ice permeability is preserved and declared at the level of 1 m.
At the laying ceremony of the Yevpatiya Kolovrat, it was announced that two icebreakers of this type are planned to be commissioned into the Navy by 2027. However, to date, there is no information about the contracting and the beginning of the construction of the second vessel.