Starovoitova, who will head the Yamal nuclear icebreaker, was presented with her captain’s badge by Alexander Barinov, president emeritus of the Murmansk Atomflot veteran organization. Atomflot is the Rosatom company that operates the nuclear icebreaker fleet.
Atomflot’s fleet: Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet navigates the 5,600-kilometer-long (about 3,480 miles) Northern Sea between Western Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The fleet includes eight nuclear icebreakers, the only such ships in the world. In addition, Russia has more than 30 nonnuclear icebreakers, with plans to expand its fleet.
The Yamal: Starovoitova’s ship, the Yamal (meaning “ends of the Earth”), is powered by two pressurized water reactors. Dating from the Soviet era, it is an Arktika-class ship whose keel was laid in 1986, though it was not launched until 1992. It has a length of 150 meters (about 164 yards), a breadth of 30 meters (about 33 yards), and a displacement of 23,455 metric tons (about 25,855 tons).
From teacher to captain: Starovoitova has followed an interesting career path. More than 20 years ago, she was a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural school in western Russia. She became interested in shipping when friends from Russia’s Arctic region told her that the Murmansk Shipping Company was recruiting women to join a ship’s crew.
After graduating from the Admiral S.O. Makarov State Maritime Academy as a certified navigation engineer, she began her career at sea as a sailor. She has accumulated more than two decades of experience on both commercial vessels and icebreakers. For the past six years, she has been assigned to the nuclear fleet, rising through the ranks from chief mate to senior assistant captain and now, to captain. Among the honors she has received are a certificate of merit from Rosatom and a letter of gratitude from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Traditions: Rosatom quoted Starovoitova as saying, “To be a captain is to carry on the nuclear fleet traditions, to cherish the crew and the icebreaker. That’s where I see my biggest mission. I’ll undertake it every day. And I very much hope that I will succeed and justify your trust and the trust of my colleagues.”
U.S. icebreakers: The United States presently has two operational non-nuclear icebreakers. There are plans to build six to nine new non-nuclear icebreakers, though these plans have been described as “faltering.” There have also been calls for the development of U.S. nuclear icebreakers.
