Sadko (1913 icebreaker)

Construction Sadko was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. at the Neptune Yard in Low Walker, England in 1912–13, as an icebreaking passenger and freight steamer. While in Reid service, Lintrose plied the ferry route between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and North Sydney, Canada. Russian service and sinking In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, Lintrose was sold to the Russian Empire for use by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as an icebreaker and cargo ship in the Arctic, along with her sister ship, the new SS Bruce. She was renamed Sadko, after the hero of a Russian bylina. On 20 June 1916, she sank in the Kandalaksha Gulf with a payload for the construction of the Kandalaksha–Murmansk railroad. ==Soviet service==

Refloating and return to service In 1932–33, Sadko was salvaged by the EPRON team led by Timofey Ivanovich Bobritsky, chief engineer. Refloated on 14 October 1933, she underwent repair and a complete refit at Arkhangelsk, emerging on 9 July 1934 on a trial voyage. Artur Karlovich Burke (1891–1942) was her captain. Burke also took Sadko on her first expedition to the Kara Sea, which lasted from 22 July to 25 September 1934, confirming the excellent work that had been done in restoring the ship to service. The next season, in 1935, she took part in an expedition led by Georgy Ushakov (1901–1963) with N.M. Nikolaev as captain of Sadko and Nikolay N. Zubov (1885–1960) as scientific director, engaging in deep-sea research and an attempt to reach Kvitøya in the Arctic Ocean. Sannikov Land expedition In the summer of 1937, Sadko sailed from Murmansk with Nikolay Ivanovich Khramtsov as expedition leader, N.M. Nikolaev as captain of Sadko, and Vladimir Vize (1886-1954) as scientific director. Also taking part in this expedition was a Polikarpov U-2SP floatplane capable of landing on and taking off from the ice. The original goal was to sail to Henrietta, Zhokhov and Jeanette Islands in the De Long group, search for Sannikov Land and carry out scientific research. The purpose of the expedition was also to find out how the Northern Sea Route could be used for regular shipping. But the Soviet naval authorities changed the plans and the ice-breaker was sent instead to help ships in distress in the Kara and Laptev Seas. Sadko, however, became itself trapped in fast ice at 75°17'N and 132°28'E in the region of the New Siberian Islands. Other two Soviet icebreakers, Sedov and Malygin, in the same area researching the ice conditions, became trapped by sea ice as well and drifted helplessly. Owing to persistent bad weather conditions, part of the stranded crew members and some of the scientists could only be rescued in April 1938. They were evacuated using ANT-6-4M-34R Aviaarktika aircraft (a specialized Arctic variant of the Tupolev TB-3 four-engine bomber) under the command of the famed Soviet Arctic aviator Anatoly Dmitrievich Alekseev (1902-1974). It was only on 28 August 1938 that the icebreaker Yermak could free two of the three ships stuck at 83°4'N and 138°22'E, Sadko and Malygin. The third ship, Sedov, had to be left to drift in its icy prison and was transformed into a scientific Polar Station. Second sinking Sadko sank on 11 September 1941 in the Kara Sea, after running aground on an uncharted reef near Franz Josef Land. ==Legacy==

An island in the Nordenskiöld Archipelago was named after Sadko. In 1977 a Soviet postage stamp honoring Sadko was issued, with the first day of issue postmarked at Moscow on 27 July 1977. A Russian postage stamp honoring Nikolay N. Zubov in 2010 included a portrait of Zubov with an illustration of Sadko at sea. There is a scale model of Sadko in the Museum of the Murmansk Shipping Company in Murmansk. ==See also==