Lenin, world’s first nuclear-powered surface ship, a large icebreaker built by the Soviet Union in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1957. The Lenin was 134 metres (440 feet) long, displaced 16,000 tons, and cruised in normal waters at 18 knots (33 km/hr, or 21 mph).
The ship went into service in 1959, clearing ice for cargo vessels in the western portion of Russia’s Northern Sea Route, between the port of Murmansk and various stops along Siberia’s Arctic coast. Despite high initial costs, nuclear propulsion proved to be highly advantageous because it allowed virtually unlimited cruising range under extremely severe conditions. The Lenin became the first of several nuclear-powered icebreakers built by the Soviet Union and then Russia into the 21st century. The ship was retired in 1989, having covered more than 500,000 nautical miles (about 925,000 km, or 575,000 statute miles) in ice. In 2009, around the 50th anniversary of its entering service, it opened as a floating museum in Murmansk harbour.
The Lenin was originally powered by three nuclear reactors, two of which were normally used for operation and the third of which was kept in reserve. It suffered at least one and perhaps two serious accidents in the mid- to late 1960s, involving partial meltdown during refueling and possibly numerous fatalities. (Soviet authorities never released details.) The ship reentered service in 1970 after several years of reconstruction, during which time its three original reactors were replaced by two more efficient and safer models.