Boilers:	Four coal-fired boilers
Engine:	Two-cylinder tandem compound steam engine, 1600 ihp

Murtaja was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 state-owned steam-powered icebreaker

Icebreaker

An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...

. Built in 1890 by Bergsunds Mekaniska Verkstads AB in Stockholm, Sweden, she was the first state-owned icebreaker of Finland and one of the first purpose-built icebreakers in the world. The Murtaja remained in service for 68 years until she was decommissioned and broken up in 1958 after having been replaced by the diesel-electric Karhu.

Background

The history of winter navigation in Finland dates back to the 17th century when mail was carried year-round between Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

, Finland and Grisslehamn

Grisslehamn

Grisslehamn is a locality situated in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 277 inhabitants in 2010.It is located on the coast by the Sea of Åland; the Eckerö Linjen ferries between Åland and Sweden operate between Grisslehamn and Eckerö on Åland.The name Grisslehamn was first...

, Sweden, over the Sea of Åland

Sea of Åland

The Sea of Åland is the waters located in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between the Åland islands and the Swedish mainland. The sea connects Kvarken and the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Sea proper. The seas are often choppy here. The narrowest part is named Södra Kvarken or South Kvarken....

. During the winter season, the postmen used ice boats, strengthened sleigh-boats that were pushed over the ice until it gave in under the weight of the boat. Once in water, the men began rocking the boat back and forth until it slowly began to break the ice and proceed towards open water. The mail route was often called the most dangerous in Europe.

In the 1860s there were plans to start year-round traffic from the Hanko, the southernmost tip of the continental Finland, but even people in the Finnish Pilot and Lighthouse Authority were doubtful about the project – the director's aide was quoted saying that this close to the 60th parallel north

60th parallel north

The 60th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

 winter traffic to Hanko would forever be a distant dream. Despite the opposition, a harbour and railway connection were built in 1872–73. Several domestic and foreign shipping companies attempted year-round traffic with varying commercial success, but the port of Hanko remained closed for several months nearly every year.

In 1889, the Finnish factory owners encouraged the Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 shipping company Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab to send their icebreaker, Bryderen, to the northern Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 and try to open a path to the icebound port of Hanko. The Bryderen, the most powerful icebreaker in Europe at that time, had 1000 ihp steam engine and could easily break ice up to 45 centimetres (18 in) thick. As word got around, people in the Senate of Finland

Senate of Finland

The Senate of Finland combined the functions of cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in the independent Republic of Finland from 1917 to 1918....

 became interested in the experiment as its result would affect the general opinions regarding icebreakers and winter navigation.

On 16 April 1889 two steamships were spotted approaching the lighthouse of Russarö

Russarö

Russarö is an island south of Hanko. The island is closed to the public as it is military area of the Finnish Defence Forces. The island has a five-story stone lighthouse built in 1863 and a Finnish Meteorological Institute weather station.- External links :...

 from the south and news about two ships approaching the town through the ice field began spreading. The ships were the Bryderen and Vesuv, a 912-ton cargo steamer owned by the Danish shipping company, that was following on the channel broken by the icebreaker. During the following night the icebreaker lost all four propeller blades, but once the replacement blades had been installed, the convoy arrived at the port of Hanko on 20 April 1889 at 13:00. Large headlines in the major Finnish newspapers reported how the ice blockade had finally been broken – a foreign icebreaker had come through the ice and was now moored at a Finnish port. The successful arrival of the Bryderen was also seen as the answer to the question whether or not an icebreaker would be needed in Finland.

Development and construction

Shortly after the visit of the Bryderen the Senate sent a call for bids for several Finnish and foreign shipyards for the construction of a steam-powered icebreaker capable of breaking a 32 feet (9.8 m) channel. Bids for a single-screw "European-type" icebreaker similar to the German icebreaker Eisbrecher I were received from German shipbuilder AG Vulcan Stettin, Danish Burmeister & Wain

Burmeister & Wain

Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it grew successfully into a strong company through the end...

 and Swedish shipyards Kockums AB

Kockums

Kockums AB is a shipyard in Malmö, Sweden owned by the German shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel. HDW itself is a subsidiary of the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems....

 and Bergsunds Mekaniska Verkstads AB. An expert committee appointed by the Senate recommended the second Swedish design, which was the second cheapest at 445,000 Swedish kronor

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

, and the contract was signed with Bergsundet on 25 May 1889.

The construction of the icebreaker began on 18 August 1889 and she was launched on 23 December. On the same day she was given the name Murtaja after her German, Swedish and Danish counterparts – each country had named their first icebreaker simply Icebreaker in their own language.
The sea trials on 23–26 March 1890 were witnessed by a group of experts, among them the Finnish-Swedish arctic explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Freiherr Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld was a Finnish baron, geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer of Finnish-Swedish origin. He was a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists...

, the first person to complete a voyage through the Northern Sea Route

Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...

. During these trials the Murtaja passed all but one of the tests for performance and general seaworthiness. Her draught at full load exceeded the contract specification by 1 in 6 in (0.4572 m), meaning that either her specialized hull form could not be fully utilized in icebreaking or the coal capacity would have to be reduced, affecting her range and endurance. However, the shipyard promised to do everything it could to reduce the draught of the vessel to an acceptable level and the Murtaja, the largest and most powerful European icebreaker at that time, was delivered to the owner on 30 March 1890. She left the shipyard on the following day and headed to Helsinki, where she was welcomed by a large cheering crowd on 2 April 1890.

Early career

The Murtaja was given the task of assisting ships to the port of Hanko. In the temporary directive, given on 5 February 1890, she was to maintain an open channel between the harbour and open water, and assist inbound and outbound ships by towing if necessary. The directive also gave some of the first guidelines for icebreakers regarding e.g. the qualifications required from the crew. When the Murtaja arrived in Helsinki in early April, most of the ice had already melted and the new icebreaker was not taken into service. She returned to Finnboda for repairs under warranty in May and remained in the shipyard until mid-August.

The winter of 1890–1891 was mild, so the Murtaja could not demonstrate her icebreaking capabilities to their full extent. However, she lost a large number of cast iron propeller blades and while the replacement blades could be installed at sea by trimming the vessel so that the propeller shaft was near the water surface, the heavy task took several days. For this reason the Helsinki Polytechnics later developed more durable steel blades that were also used in the subsequent icebreakers.

During the first normal winters the icebreaking capability of the Murtaja could be determined. She could break level ice up to 47 centimetres (19 in) thick in continuous motion as long as there was no snow, in which case even 25 centimetres (10 in) ice required backing and ramming. In this method the ship was reversed two to four ship lengths before ordering full ahead, after which the ship could break new channel up to six ship lengths, almost 150 metres (492 ft). However, in more difficult ice conditions each ramming would move the ship forwards only 10 metres (33 ft). In snow-covered ice and drift ice the Murtaja could not operate efficiently due to her inefficient hull form. Sometimes the crew had to rely on hacking and sawing the ice or even explosives to release the ship from compressive ice fields.

Despite her efforts the 930-ton single-screw Murtaja was not deemed powerful enough to keep the southernmost port of Finland open every winter, and the winter navigation committee appointed by the Senate came to a conclusion that a second icebreaker would be needed. The new icebreaker, equipped with propellers in both bow and stern, was built in 1898 and given the name Sampo

Finnish icebreaker Sampo (1898)

Sampo was a Finnish state-owned steam-powered icebreaker. Built in 1898 by Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom and named after a magical artifact from the Finnish mythology, she was the second state-owned icebreaker of Finland and the first European...

.

First World War

In August 1914 Russia

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 joined the First World War and navigating in the Baltic Sea became dangerous due to naval mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

s and German

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

 U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

s. The Finnish icebreakers were placed under the command of the Baltic Fleet

Baltic Fleet

The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...

 of the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

 and given the task of assisting naval ships and troop transportations in the Gulf of Finland. The Murtaja was stationed with the Sampo in the southern parts of the Archipelago Sea and between Turku and Mariehamn

Mariehamn

Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city...

. Icebreaker assistance to merchant ships was largely neglected and the icebreakers often carried supplies for the Russian troops.

On 6 December 1917 the Parliament of Finland

Parliament of Finland

The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

 accepted the declaration of independence given by the Senate and on 29 December the icebreakers Murtaja and Sampo raised the state flag of the independent Finland

Flag of Finland

The flag of Finland , also called Siniristilippu , dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, which represents Christianity. The state flag has a coat of arms in the centre, but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed...

 for the first time. However, already in early January 1918 the ship was seized by the Russian revolutionary fleet and ordered to assist the Russian troops stationed in Finland. From the beginning the Finnish officials attempted to negotiate the return of the icebreaker, but it wasn't until 5 April 1918 before the Murtaja was handed back to Finland.

The Murtaja survived the war without major damage and continued in service through the interwar period

Interwar period

Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....

. As new icebreakers entered service in the 1920s, she was stationed in Turku, the second official winter port.

Second World War

Due to the worsening relations with the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, the Murtaja and other state-owned icebreakers were armed and assigned to a wartime icebreaker fleet shortly before the Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

 began on 30 November 1939. The Finnish icebreakers had been equipped with gun mounts already in the 1920s and were armed with light artillery. The Murtaja spent the early stages of the war in Viipuri and assisted supply ships to the port of Koivisto

Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast

Primorsk is a coastal town in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, and the largest Russian port on the Baltic. It is located on the Karelian Isthmus, west of St. Petersburg, at the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, near Birch Islands, protected as a sea bird sanctuary...

.

When the Continuation War

Continuation War

The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

 began on 25 June 1941, the Finnish icebreakers were re-armed and their anti-aircraft armament was improved. On 20 July, while guarding a motti in the Hanko Front

Battle of Hanko (1941)

The Battle of Hanko was a lengthy series of small battles fought on Hanko Peninsula during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union in the second half of 1941...

, the camouflaged Murtaja was attacked by a group of Soviet fighter-bomber

Fighter-bomber

A fighter-bomber is a fixed-wing aircraft with an intended primary role of light tactical bombing and also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. This term, although still used, has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial...

s. None of the planes scored a direct hit, but the nearby explosions caused severe damage to the engine and fittings. On the following day the Murtaja was towed to Crichton-Vulcan

Crichton-Vulcan

Crichton-Vulcan is an abandoned shipyard in Turku, Finland that once formed the cornerstone of the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The shipyard is best known for the World War II coastal defence ships and submarines it produced....

 shipyard in Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

 for repairs. Later the front moved east and the icebreaker fleet was disbanded in December 1941, after which some of the armament was removed and the icebreakers resumed their normal peacetime duties. For the remainder of the war the Murtaja assisted ships without major incidents.

Decommissioning

The Murtaja was often criticized for her poor performance in difficult ice conditions and she was deemed old and obsolete already in 1906. Selling her was set as a prerequisite for ordering a new icebreaker, but while several foreign ports were interested in purchasing the Murtaja, in September 1906 the Senate decided to order the third state-owned icebreaker, Tarmo, without selling the old one. As more modern icebreakers entered service in the 1920s, the Murtaja was again deemed obsolete and worn-out, and she was criticized for her high operating costs. She was said to be in need of complete overhaul and rebuilding in 1926, but the Finnish Board of Navigation did not agree to this until almost ten years later, although it noted that decommissioning her would probably be a better solution.

Despite the criticism the Murtaja remained in service through the First and Second World Wars until the late 1950s, although during her last years in service her assistance in the Archipelago Sea

Archipelago Sea

Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters...

 was described being "more of a moral nature". The renewal of the Finnish icebreaker fleet began in 1952 after the Finnish war reparations to the Soviet Union

Finnish war reparations to the Soviet Union

War reparations of Finland to the Soviet Union were originally the worth 300 000 000 US dollars, at 1938 prices. Finland agreed to pay the reparations in the Moscow Armistice signed on 19 September 1944. Armistice had started already 5 September 1944...

 had been paid, and the first post-war icebreaker, Voima, was commissioned in 1953. When the harsh winters of the 1950s showed that modern icebreakers were needed, a series of smaller diesel-electric icebreakers were built for operations within the archipelago. The first steam-powered icebreaker to be decommissioned was the old Murtaja, which was decommissioned on 3 May 1958 after almost 70 years of service. She was replaced by the new diesel-electric Karhu and broken up shortly afterwards. The second Karhu class icebreaker was named Murtaja in 1959 to honor the first state-owned icebreaker of Finland.

Technical details

The Murtaja was 47.55 metres (156 ft) long overall and 42.5 metres (139.44 ft) at the waterline

Waterline length

The Waterline length is a measurement of ships and boats. The term denotes the length of the vessel at the point where it sits in the water. It excludes the total length of the boat, such as features that are out of the water...

. Her moulded breadth was 10.95 metres (35.93 ft) and breadth at the waterline slightly smaller, 10.8 metres (35.43 ft). The draught of the icebreaker at even keel was 5.5 metres (18 ft), but in operating condition she was trimmed by stern. The stern draught at the maximum displacement of 930 tons was defined in the contract as 20 feet (6.1 m), but when the Murtaja was delivered, her maximum draught was measured as 21 in 6 in (6.55 m) at full load.

The round bow of the Murtaja was modeled after Eisbrecher I, a German icebreaker designed by engineer Ferdinand Steinhaus from Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and built in 1871, even though Robert Runeberg, an experienced Finnish naval architect and son of the national poet of Finland

Johan Ludvig Runeberg

Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish poet, and is the national poet of Finland. He wrote in the Swedish language....

, had recommended a sharper ice-cutting bow instead of the spoon-shaped one. The angle of the stem, the first part of the icebreaker to encounter ice and bend it under the weight of the ship, was 33 degrees. The hull was extremely strong for its size and the shell plating thickness at the ice belt, 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in), was twice as thick as in the strongest winter ships at that time.

The Murtaja was powered by a 1,600 ihp two-cylinder tandem compound steam engine driving a four-bladed propeller in the stern. Her four coal-powered boilers were located end-to-end as two pairs in a single boiler room in the midship. The icebreaker could achieve a speed of 12.5 knots (6.8 m/s) in open water, although her seakeeping characteristics were extremely poor due to the specialized hull form. In case of engine failure the Murtaja was initially equipped with two staysail

Staysail

A staysail is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose luff can be affixed to a stay running forward from a mast to the deck, the bowsprit or to another mast....

s and two Bermuda sails, although they were rarely, if ever, used and disappeared from the inventory in the 1920s.