Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin (Russian:Владимир Иванович Воронин; October 17, 1890 – October 18, 1952[1]) was aSoviet Navy captain, born inSumsky Posad, in the presentRepublic of Karelia,Russia. In 1932 he commanded the expedition of theSoviet icebreakerA. Sibiryakov which made the first successful crossing of theNorthern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering. This voyage was organized by the All-Union Arctic Institute (presently known as theArctic and Antarctic Research Institute).
TheA. Sibiryakov sailed fromArkhangelsk, crossed theKara Sea and chose a northern, unexplored way aroundSevernaya Zemlya to theLaptev Sea. In September the propeller shaft broke and the icebreaker drifted for 11 days. However, theA. Sibiryakov used its sails and arrived in theBering Strait in October. Theicebreaker reached the Japanese port ofYokohama after 65 days, having covered more than 2500 miles in the Arctic seas. This was regarded as a heroic feat of Soviet polar seamen and Chief of ExpeditionOtto Schmidt and Captain Vladimir Voronin were received with many honors on their return to Russia.
The icebreakerA. Sibiryakov continued in service until it was sunk in 1942 after an unequal fight withGerman heavy cruiserAdmiral Scheer duringOperation Wunderland inWorld War II.
In 1933-34 Voronin commanded another icebreaker on a dramatic, albeit not so fortunate, expedition. In July 1933 theChelyuskin sailed fromLeningrad before a large crowd. However, in September icebreakerChelyuskin got stuck inpack ice in theChukchi Sea nearKolyuchin Island. The crew worked hard to free the ship from the surrounding ice, succeeding after almost a week. But the ship became stuck again and drifted in the general direction of the pack ice toward theBering Strait. By the end of November it became obvious that theChelyuskin would not break free from the pack ice and would have to winter on the Chukchi Sea. Eventually the ship was squeezed by largeice floes and was in danger of sinking. Captain Voronin ordered the crew to unload equipment from the ship and set up a camp site astern of the ship. But cracks in the ice formed under the tents, forcing the crew to load their equipment back onto the ship. TheChelyuskin drifted for the next two months in the Chukchi Sea to the east ofWrangel Island.
Finally, increasing pressure resulted in the ship's creaking and eventual breach by ice. Voronin andOtto Schmidt managed to jump off just in time before theChelyuskin sank close to Kolyuchin Island. Thus only one crew member went down with the ship. The crew then set up tents on a part of the ice surface that was named Camp Schmidt. The crew made radio contact with the village ofUelen on theChukchi Peninsula and asked for help. During a dramatic rescue operation, pilotAnatoly Lyapidevsky sighted Camp Schmidt, landed his plane on the ice, and rescued the women and children before returning to Uelen. The remaining passengers and crew of the ill-fated icebreakerChelyuskin were rescued later and flown toCape Vankarem on the Chukotka Peninsula. Due to severe weather conditions, the rescue took one month with planes trying hard to carry out the rescue operation fromKhabarovsk;Nome inAlaska; andCape Olyutor until they were successful.[2]
Some geographic locations in Russia have been named in honor of this Soviet captain and explorer of the Arctic waters
Cape Voronin offViachtu Bay inSakhalin Island, however, is not named after Captain Vladimir Voronin, but after Second lieutenant Aleksey Ivanovich Voronin, a previous Russian explorer who took part in the 1849–1855Amur Expedition.[3]
ARC-7 class Ice breaking LNG carrier launched in 2019 named Vladimir Voronin in his honor. Vessel regularly makes unescorted passages of the Northern Sea Route carry LNG from LNG plant in Sabetta to Europe and Asia.
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