SF. PETERSBURG, October 30. /TASS/. A laying down ceremony for the scientific expedition ship Ivan Frolov was held at the Admiralty Shipyards (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) in St. Petersburg. The ship will be the flagship of the national hydrometeorological service, Roshydromet. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Patrushev participated in the ceremony.

“This ship will be the flagship of the Roshydromet fleet. A powerful scientific complex will be located on board the ship for research even in the harshest conditions, including studies of the ocean floor, atmosphere and space. Overall, this versatile project. will ensure the smooth operation of the Roshydromet polar stations. I would like to emphasize that the study of the Arctic and Antarctic is a key field of the federal service that organizes more than 20 expeditions a year to track climate change, collect data for the development of the North. Navigation on the sea route and to check the borders of the continental shelf of Russia. The new ship, Ivan Frolov, will certainly strengthen our positions in the polar regions,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia, Alexander Kozlov, who attended the ceremony, noted that the vessel will be built in five years.

At the same time, the current flagship of the polar fleet, Akademik Fedorov, will not stop working when the new ship is ready, the head of the hydrometeorological service, Igor Shumakov, told TASS. “Akademik Fedorov will continue to work as long as the Maritime Register allows us. We constantly monitor the technical conditions of the ships – this ship is in perfect condition, it will not be cut into metal. In addition, we have even older ships. , how it would be, for example, our famous Mihail Somov who is still working,” he added.

About the ship

Ivan Frolov will replace the Akademik Fedorov ship, built in 1987, which has exhausted the resource. The new vessel will be approximately 165 m long, its displacement – approximately 25,000 tons. It will house up to 20 laboratories, a hangar for two helicopters and a helipad. The hull will be of the Arc7 class, which allows passage through difficult polar ice without icebreakers. All parts and equipment will be domestic. The crew and special staff will form 240 people. The vessel, which is to be commissioned for at least 30 years, will be operated by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).

Ivan Frolov (1949 – 2020) was a geographer, oceanographer, glacial geologist, polar explorer, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, winner of the Otto Schmidt Prize. From 1992 to 2017, Ivan Frolov headed the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute – the oldest scientific research institution in Russia, which conducts a comprehensive study of the Earth’s polar regions.