"For 30 years," the spokesman said, "no one doubted the nuclear-powered icebreaker's unique potential for overcoming ice barriers in the difficult conditions of the Arctic."
He noted that Soviet designers and builders created a ship that worked perfectly on its maiden voyage.
In October 1961, the Lenin carried the members of the North Pole 10 floating station expedition to ice floe near Wrangel Island.
In May 1971, the Lenin became the first vessel to sail from Murmansk to the Russian Far East north of all Eurasian islands.
In April 1976, the Lenin cleared ice for the Pavel Ponomarev diesel-powered ship deliver cargo to the Yamal Peninsula. This opened Arctic navigation three months earlier than normal.
The other icebreakers built after the Lenin also have significant achievements.
In August 1977, the Arktika, a second-generation nuclear-powered icebreaker, was the first ship to sail to the geographic North Pole.
Icebreakers prolonged the navigation period in the Arctic from five to ten months. The amount of freight traffic in the winter increased 36-fold.
In May 1978, the nuclear icebreakers the Sibir, the Lenin and the Captain Sorokin opened the Murmansk-Dudinka route to year round navigation, which ensured freight traffic to the Norilsk metallurgical factory, the largest in Siberia above the Arctic Circle.
In 1987, the nuclear icebreaker Sibir made a unique multipurpose scientific expedition to the Arctic. It took on board scientists from the SP-27 arctic station and opened the SP-29 station and went to the North Pole on a scientific mission.
In August 1990, the Rossiya icebreaker became the first Russian icebreaker to bring foreign tourists to the North Pole.
In subsequent years, the Sovetsky Soyuz and Yamal took tourists to the North Pole up to five times in the summer.
"Russia, which has the world's longest Arctic shore, had no choice but to build a fleet that could function in the harshest climate on earth to explore the areas rich in minerals," the spokesman said. "And the 45 years of the fleet's continued operation, have confirmed that this strategy has justified itself."
According to him, the Lenin is being turned into a museum about the exploration of the Arctic and the North Sea Route. The museum will open in November 2005. An information center and a business center are also planned to be opened on the Lenin.
