SS Chelyuskin

History
Chelyuskin
Name:	Chelyuskin
Owner:	Soviet Union
Operator:	Glavsevmorput^[1]
Builder:	Burmeister and Wain (B&W) Copenhagen, Denmark
Launched:	March 11, 1933
Christened:	Semion Chelyuskin
Completed:	1933
Maiden voyage:	May 6, 1933
Out of service:	February 13, 1934
Fate:	sunk
General characteristics
Class & type:	commercial steam ship^[2]
Tonnage:	7,500t
Length:	310.2’
Beam:	54.3’
Height:	22.0’
Installed power:	2400hp
Speed:	12,5 knots
Crew:	111

SS Chelyuskin^[3] (Russian: «Челю́скин»; IPA: [tɕɪˈlʲuskʲɪn]) was a Soviet steamship reinforced to navigate through polar ice that became ice-bound in Arctic waters during navigation along the Northern Maritime Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok. The expedition's task was to determine the possibility to travel by non-icebreaker through the Northern Maritime Route in a single navigation season.

It was built in Denmark in 1933 by Burmeister and Wain (B&W, Copenhagen) and named after the 18th century Russian polar explorer Semion Ivanovich Chelyuskin. The head of the expedition was Otto Yuliyevich Shmidt and the ship's captain was V. I. Voronin. There were 111 people on board the steamship. The crew members were known as Chelyuskintsy, "Chelyuskinites".

Mission

After leaving Murmansk on August 2, 1933, the steamship managed to get through most of the Northern Route before it was caught in the ice fields in September. After that it drifted in the ice pack before sinking on February 13, 1934, crushed by the icepacks near Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea. The crew managed to escape onto the ice and built a makeshift airstrip using only a few spades, ice shovels and two crowbars. They had to rebuild the airstrip thirteen times, until they were rescued in April of the same year and flown to the village of Vankarem on the coast of the sea. From there, some of the Chelyuskinites were flown further to the village of Uelen, while fifty-three men walked over 300 miles to get there.

The aircraft pilots who took part in search and rescue operations were the first people to receive the newly established highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Those pilots were Anatoly Liapidevsky, Sigizmund Levanevsky (who crashed en route to the camp, but survived), Vasily Molokov, Mavriky Slepnyov, Mikhail Vodopianov, Nikolai Kamanin and Ivan Doronin. Liapidevsky flew an ANT-4, the civilian version of the TB-1 heavy bomber, while Slepnev and Levanevsky flew a Consolidated Fleetster specially brought in from the US for the mission, and the other pilots flew the Polikarpov R-5. Two American air mechanics, Clyde Goodwin Armitstead, and William Latimer Lavery,^[4] also helped in the search and rescue of the Chelyuskintsy, on September 10, 1934, and were awarded the Order of Lenin.

As the steamship became trapped in the entrance to the Bering Strait, the USSR considered the expedition mainly successful, as it had proven that a regular steamship had a chance to navigate the whole Northern Maritime Route in a single season. After a few additional trial runs in 1933 and 1934, the Northern Sea Route was officially opened and commercial exploitation began in 1935. Next year, part of the Soviet Baltic Fleet made the passage to the Pacific where an armed conflict with Japan was looming.

Legacy

In the wake of the catastrophe, a central square in Yaroslavl was renamed after the Chelyuskintsy, as was Chelyuskinites Park in Minsk; Marina Tsvetayeva wrote a poem applauding the rescue team. On 1970, the East German television had produced Tscheljuskin, a film about the ship's voyage, directed by Rainer Hausdorf and featuring Eberhard Mellies as Prof. Schmidt, Dieter Mann as the surveyor Vasiliev and Fritz Diez as Valerian Kuybyshev.^[5] Efforts to find the wreck of the ship have been made by at least four different expeditions.

The wreck of the ship was finally discovered in September 2006 at a depth of about 50 metres in the Chukchi Sea.^[6] The polar explorer Artur Chilingarov argued that the ship should be raised and converted into a museum.

Michael Roberts, an English poet, wrote a poem "Chelyuskin". It was published in his Poems in 1936 by Jonathan Cape.

Gallery

Location of Kolyuchin Island

References

↑ (Russian)Chelyuskin and Pijma: All dots above i by Lazar Freidgame
↑ Lloyd's Register: "+ 100 A1 strengthened for navigation in ice", "A1" means for special commercial navigation
↑ Also Cheliuskin.
↑ The Junior Aircraft Year Book, 1935, p.8
↑ Tscheljuskin on the IMDb.
↑ В Чукотском море найдены фрагменты «Челюскина» — in Russian

External links

(Russian) Chelyuskin-70 - Official site of the underwater archeological expedition
(Russian) Rescue of Chelyuskin
The Chelyuskin and the Dzhurma in 1933

First Heroes of the Soviet Union

Anatoly Lyapidevsky Sigizmund Levanevsky Vasily Molokov Nikolai Kamanin Mavriky Slepnyov Mikhail Vodopyanov Ivan Doronin Mikhail Gromov

Polar exploration

Arctic

Ocean History Expeditions

Farthest North North Pole	Barentsz Hudson Marmaduke Carolus Parry North Magnetic Pole J. Ross J. C. Ross Kane Hayes Polaris Polaris C. F. Hall British Arctic Expedition HMS Alert Nares HMS Discovery Stephenson Markham Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Greely Lockwood Brainard 1st Fram expedition Fram Nansen Johansen Sverdrup Jason Amedeo F. Cook Peary Sedov Byrd Airship Norge Amundsen Nobile Wisting Riiser-Larsen Ellsworth Airship Italia Nautilus Wilkins ANT-25 Chkalov Baydukov Belyakov "North Pole" manned drifting ice stations NP-1 Papanin Shirshov E. Fyodorov Krenkel NP-36 NP-37 Sedov Badygin Wiese USS Nautilus USS Skate Plaisted Herbert NS Arktika Barneo Arktika 2007 Mir submersibles Sagalevich Chilingarov

Iceland Greenland	Pytheas Brendan Papar Vikings Naddodd Svavarsson Arnarson Norse colonization of the Americas Ulfsson Galti Erik the Red Christian IV's expeditions J. Hall Cunningham Lindenov C. Richardson Danish colonization Egede Scoresby Jason Nansen Sverdrup Peary Rasmussen

Northwest Passage Northern Canada	Cabot G. Corte-Real M. Corte-Real Frobisher Gilbert Davis Hudson Discovery Bylot Baffin Munk I. Fyodorov Gvozdev HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Discovery Clerke Mackenzie Kotzebue J. Ross HMS Griper Parry HMS Hecla Lyon HMS Fury Hoppner Crozier J. C. Ross Coppermine Expedition Franklin Back Dease Simpson HMS Blossom Beechey Franklin's lost expedition HMS Erebus HMS Terror Collinson Rae–Richardson Expedition Rae J. Richardson Austin McClure Expedition HMS Investigator McClure HMS Resolute Kellett Belcher Kennedy Bellot Isabel Inglefield 2nd Grinnell Expedition USS Advance Kane Fox McClintock HMS Pandora Young Fram Sverdrup Gjøa Amundsen Rasmussen Karluk Stefansson Bartlett St. Roch H. Larsen Cowper

North East Passage Russian Arctic	Pomors Koch boats Willoughby Chancellor Barentsz Mangazeya Hudson Poole Siberian Cossacks Perfilyev Stadukhin Dezhnev Popov Ivanov Vagin Permyakov Great Northern Expedition Bering Chirikov Malygin Ovtsyn Minin V. Pronchishchev M. Pronchishcheva Chelyuskin Kh. Laptev D. Laptev Chichagov Lyakhov Billings Sannikov Gedenschtrom Wrangel Matyushkin Anjou Litke Lavrov Pakhtusov Tsivolko Middendorff Austro-Hungarian Expedition Weyprecht Payer Vega Expedition A. E. Nordenskiöld Palander USS Jeannette De Long Yermak Makarov Zarya Toll Kolomeitsev Matisen Kolchak Sedov Rusanov Kuchin Brusilov Expedition Sv. Anna Brusilov Albanov Konrad Wiese Nagórski Taymyr / Vaygach Vilkitsky Maud Amundsen AARI Samoylovich Begichev Urvantsev Sadko Ushakov Glavsevmorput Schmidt Aviaarktika Shevelev Sibiryakov Voronin Chelyuskin Krassin Gakkel Nuclear-powered icebreakers NS Lenin Arktika class

Antarctic

Continent History Expeditions

Southern Ocean	Roché Bouvet Kerguelen HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Adventure Furneaux Smith San Telmo Vostok Bellingshausen Mirny Lazarev Bransfield Palmer Davis Weddell Morrell Astrolabe Dumont d'Urville United States Exploring Expedition USS Vincennes Wilkes USS Porpoise Ringgold HMS Erebus J. C. Ross HMS Terror Crozier Cooper Challenger expedition HMS Challenger Nares Murray Jason C. A. Larsen

"Heroic Age"	Belgian Antarctic Expedition Belgica de Gerlache Lecointe Amundsen Cook Arctowski Racoviță Dobrowolski Southern Cross Southern Cross Borchgrevink Discovery Discovery Discovery Hut Gauss Gauss Drygalski Swedish Antarctic Expedition Antarctic O. Nordenskjöld C. A. Larsen Scottish Antarctic Expedition Bruce Scotia Orcadas Base Nimrod Expedition Nimrod French Antarctic Expeditions Pourquoi-Pas Charcot Japanese Antarctic Expedition Shirase Amundsen's South Pole expedition Fram Amundsen Framheim Polheim Terra Nova Terra Nova Scott Wilson E. R. Evans Crean Lashly Filchner Australasian Antarctic Expedition SY Aurora Mawson Far Eastern Party Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Endurance Ernest Shackleton Wild *James Caird* Ross Sea party Mackintosh Shackleton–Rowett Expedition Quest

IPY · IGY Modern research	Christensen Byrd BANZARE BGLE Rymill New Swabia Ritscher Operation Tabarin Marr Operation Highjump Captain Arturo Prat Base British Antarctic Survey Operation Windmill Ketchum Ronne Expedition F. Ronne E. Ronne Schlossbach Operation Deep Freeze McMurdo Station Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition Hillary V. Fuchs Soviet Antarctic Expeditions 1st Somov Klenova Mirny 2nd Tryoshnikov 3rd Tolstikov Antarctic Treaty System Transglobe Expedition Fiennes Burton Lake Vostok Kapitsa

Farthest South South Pole	HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Adventure Furneaux Weddell HMS Erebus J. C. Ross HMS Terror Crozier Southern Cross Borchgrevink Discovery Barne Nimrod Shackleton Wild Marshall Adams South Magnetic Pole Mawson David Mackay Amundsen's South Pole expedition Fram Amundsen Bjaaland Helmer Hassel Wisting Polheim Terra Nova Scott E. Evans Oates Wilson Bowers Byrd Balchen McKinley Dufek Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station Hillary V. Fuchs Pole of Cold Vostok Station Pole of inaccessibility Pole of Inaccessibility Station Tolstikov Crary A. Fuchs Messner

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