SS Baikal
{{Short description|Ice-breaking train ferry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Baikal ferry.jpg | Ship caption = The icebreaking steamer Baikal in action on Lake Baikal. }} {{Infobox ship career |Ship country= Russia | Ship flag = {{Shipboxflag|Russia|civil}} | Ship name = SS Baikal | Ship owner = Part of the Trans-Siberian Railroad | Ship operator = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = {{OldStyleDate|11 January|1896|30 December|1895}} | Ship builder = Armstrong Whitworth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England{{cite web|url=http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/B-Ships/baikal1896.html|title=SS Baikal (1896)|publisher=www.tynebuiltships.co.uk|accessdate=29 April 2017}} | Ship original cost = £79,890 | Ship yard number = 647 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = Spring 1896 | Ship launched = 29 June 1899 | Ship completed = {{OldStyleDate|29 June|1899|17 June}} | ship ordered = 29 November 1895 | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = 1900 | Ship registry = | Ship out of service = | Ship identification = | Ship fate = Damaged by artillery fire in 1918 and scuttled, later dismantled | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Ship class = Train ferry/icebreaker | Ship tonnage = {{GRT|800}} | Ship displacement = {{Convert|4200|LT|t|0|lk=on}} | Ship length = {{Convert|88.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{Convert|17.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = {{Convert|5.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship decks = | Trial length = | Ship power = 3 × reciprocating steam engines, {{Convert|3750|hp|0|abbr=on}} | Ship propulsion = Two aft wing propellers and one bow propeller | Ship speed = {{convert|12|kn|0|lk=in}} | Ship capacity =*300 passengers and crew
| Ship crew = | Ship notes = }} |
SS Baikal was an ice-breaking train ferry that linked the eastern and western portions of the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Lake Baikal.{{cite book | last=Lambert | first=Anthony | title=The 50 Greatest Train Journeys of the World | publisher=Icon Books | date=2016-05-05 | isbn=978-1-78578-066-0}}
Ship history
In early 1895 the construction of a ferry across the Lake Baikal began, following the proposal of the Minister of Transport Mikhail Khilkov. On 30 December 1895 a contract with Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne was signed for the parts of the icebreaking ferry (without woodwork and in disassembled state). Transport involved sending 7,000 crates with the disassembled from the UK to St Petersburg and then onward for assembly. The boilers, at some 20 tonnes were said to particularly challenging to transport and other parts of the ship went missing or were stolen during transport so had to be replaced. By June 1896 the icebreaker had been delivered for assembly to the village of Listvenichnoye. After three years it was completed and launched on {{OldStyleDate|29 June|1899|17 June}}.
Before the Circum-Baikal Railway was opened in 1905, Baikal, and later also the Angara, carried two loads a day between piers at Baikal and Mysovaya. After the railway was completed, both ships continued to operate in reserve.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
When the Russian Civil War broke out Baikal was equipped with machine guns and cannons by the Bolsheviks.{{cite book | last=Wojdak | first=Paul | title=Escape from Siberia, Escape from Memory | publisher=FriesenPress | date=2024-04-12 | isbn=978-1-0391-9687-2 | page=}} When Irkutsk surrendered to the White Army, Baikal sailed to the Mysovaya pier, the location of the Red Army headquarters.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
File:The SS 'Baikal' on the day before launching..jpg
On 15 August 1918, the icebreaker was damaged by field artillery fire from the White Forces of the Czechoslovak Legion during the Battle of Lake Baikal. It was burnt at the Mysovaya pier and sunk alongside.
In 1920 the damaged hull was refloated and towed to Port Baikal. It remained untouched until at least 1926, and was later dismantled. There is a possibility that its lower hull, bow propeller, and part of the engines are still at the bottom of the lake at the mouth of the Angara River.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
References
External links
{{commons category|Baikal (ship, 1899)}}
- [http://englishrussia.com/2012/06/18/great-ice-breaker-of-a-sad-destiny/ Great ice-breaker of a sad destiny]
- [http://www.irkutsk.org/fed/icebraker.html Icebreaker Angara]
{{November 1939 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baikal, SS}}
Category:Icebreakers of Russia
Category:Maritime incidents in November 1939
Category:Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth
Category:Ships built in the Soviet Union
Category:Ships built on the River Tyne
Category:Trans-Siberian Railway
Category:World War II merchant ships of the Soviet Union
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