Eisbär photographed in Frierfjord in 1942
History
Nazi Germany
Name	Eisbär
Namesake	German for polar bear
Operator	Kriegsmarine
Builder	Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad, Göteborg, Sweden
Yard number	319[1]
Launched	20 October 1941[2]
Commissioned	1 February 1942[2]
In service	1942–1945
Fate	Handed over to the Soviet Union as war reparations in 1946
Soviet Union
Name	Ilya Muromets (Илья Муромец)
Namesake	Ilya Muromets, Russian folk hero
Operator	Soviet Navy (1946–1957) Far East Shipping Company (1957–1979)[3]
Port of registry	Vladivostok, Soviet Union (since 1957)
Acquired	1946
In service	1946–1979
Identification	IMO number: 6805000 Call sign: UPXG
Fate	Broken up in 1981[3]
General characteristics [1]
Type	Icebreaker
Length	56.9 m (187 ft)
Beam	15 m (49 ft)
Draught	6.35 m (21 ft)
Installed power	Two triple-expansion steam engines
Propulsion	Bow and stern propellers

Eisbär was a steam-powered Kriegsmarine port icebreaker built at Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1942. She had two triple-expansion steam engines driving one propeller in the stern and another in the bow of the vessel.

In 1946, Eisbär was handed over to the Soviet Union as war reparations and renamed Ilya Muromets after the Russian folk hero. She was first used by the Soviet Navy until 1957 and afterwards as a port icebreaker in Vladivostok by the Far Eastern Shipping Company until 1979. Ilya Muromets was broken up in 1981.^[3]

In the 1950s, the hull form of Ilya Muromets was used as the basis for the development of the diesel-electric Project 97 icebreakers.^[4][5]

References