MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia’s cutting-edge diesel-electric icebreaker Ilya Muromets has passed the second round of sea trials earlier this month, Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo has said.
"The Ilya Muromets icebreaker is back at the outfitting quay of the Admiralty shipyard after completing the second stage of trials that began on August 25 in the Gulf of Finland and off the Baltiysk coast," the statement read.
The tests included a series of 36 day and night take-offs and landings performed by an on-deck helicopter, according to Navy’s deputy commander Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk. The Ilya Muromets also tugged a vessel with an equal displacement of 6,000 tonnes.
The Ilya Muromets was launched in St. Petersburg in June 2016. The Defense Ministry has said it is the first icebreaker built for the Russian Navy in 45 years.
The vessel is almost 278 feet long and 65 feet wide. It has an operational range of 12,000 nautical miles and a two-month endurance. It is capable of navigating through ice up to 2.9 feet thick, carrying cargo in the hold and in containers on the upper deck, performing hydrographic studies and participating in rescue operations.
