Murmansk

Murmansk (Russian: Му́рманск; IPA: [ˈmurmənsk]; Kildin Sami: Мурман ланнҍ; Northern Sami: Murmánska; Skolt Sami: Muurman; Finnish: Murmansk; Norwegian: Murmansk) is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, close to the Russia's borders with Norway and Finland.

Despite its extreme northern location above the Arctic Circle, Murmansk tends to be nearly the same as any other Russian city of its size, featuring highway and railway access to the rest of Europe, a railway station, and the northernmost trolleybus system on Earth.

Although Murmansk's population is in decline—299,148 (2014 est.);307,257 (2010 Census);336,137 (2002 Census);468,039 (1989 Census)— it remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

History

Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire. In 1915, World War I needs led to the construction of the railroad from Petrozavodsk to an ice-free location on the Murman Coast in the Russian Arctic, to which Russia's allies shipped military supplies. The terminus became known as the Murman station and soon boasted a port, a naval base, and an adjacent settlement with a population which quickly grew in size and soon surpassed the nearby towns of Alexandrovsk and Kola.

Soviet cruiser Murmansk (1955)

Murmansk (Russian: Мурманск) was a light cruiser project no. 68-bis (designated the Sverdlov class by NATO) of the Soviet and later the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet.

She was laid down in Severodvinsk in 1953 and commissioned on 22 September 1955. Murmansk joined the 2nd Cruiser Division on the division's formation in 1956.

Fate

In 1994 Murmansk was sold to India for scrapping but ran aground off the Norwegian village of Sørvær during the transfer. It was first estimated that the winter storms would destroy the parts of Murmansk above the water, but in 2009 funding was allocated to pay for the dismantling of the vessel. Since the ship was in very bad state when the decision to remove it was done, there was no possibility to tow it. It had to be removed piece by piece. Scandinavia’s largest demolition contractor, AF Decom, constructed a massive breakwater and dry dock around Murmansk to access the shipwreck from land and demolish it where it rested. The dock around the wreck was sealed in April 2012. By mid-May the dock was almost empty of water and the demolishing of the cruiser began. The project was completed in 2013.

Project 21900 icebreaker

Project 21900 and Project 21900M icebreakers (also referred as LK-16) are a series of five Russian icebreakers. Two project 21900 icebreakers (Moskva and Sankt-Peterburg) were built at Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg in 2008 and three project 21900M icebreakers are currently under construction, two at Vyborg Shipyard in Vyborg and one at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Helsinki. Two of the new vessels (Vladivostok and Murmansk) are expected to enter service in 2015 and the last one (Novorossiysk) in 2016. The construction of the 21900M class icebreakers are conducted under the Federal Target Programme "Development of the Transport System of Russia (2010 – 2015)".

The main tasks of the project 21900/21900M class vessels are icebreaking and assisting of heavy-tonnage vessels in ice, towing of vessels and other floating structures both in ice and in open water. The vessels will also be used for fire fighting on floating objects and other facilities, assisting vessels in distress in ice and open water and cargo transportation.