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THE      ICEBREAKER     KRASIN    -     DAVID    AND   GOLIATH



Between the docks* for   cruise ships and the berths for yachts of pleasure
Lies another ship,  not a purposeless cruise  craft for sale;
An old-fashioned looking ship, now a museum   -  an icebreaker,
But like an  iceberg  it shows only a tenth of its tale. 

Curious ungainly shape,  bulbous hull and a long overhanging prow.
This was a tough-guy ship which dealt with  life and  death in the arctic ice.
She could  face down a million-ton berg,  riding over it with her bow;
And her curved-sided hull  eluded any crush from that white enemy’s vice

Arctic convoys in 1942 to Murmansk were led by a crucial ship - the  icebreaker.  
The German  enemy badly wanted to  see the  small Krasin  sinking.
She had saved  many  in trouble;   but who  could now save her 
When her moment came to face the enemy alone without blinking?

She was  small and slow,  with  no armour and   few  guns.
To sink the icebreaker Germany sent  mighty battleship Admiral Scheer,  
A high-speed nemesis,  heavy-gunned  and  thick-armoured  - 16 000 tons       
A foe to fear   -  Goliath and David.    Cheetah  and  deer .    

Krasin turned north,  slowly broke her way deep into the arctic icefield 
And  the invincible Admiral Scheer  dared  not follow  in.
Out of range,  out of reach.   An enemy  emasculated by a frozen shield.
Ice,  the  enemy of the icebreaker, had become  savior-friend  to the Krasin.

When your cruise ship  visits  the Neva bank and  the river is almost full
Look down for the small steel-hulled ship on the dock  near the end.
Beneath the bunting, look for the inscription on the Krasin’s   hull :
“My  enemy’s   enemy  is  my   friend.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………


* Note

   Docks on the River  Neva  in  the city of 
   Saint  Petersburg  (formerly  Leningrad ),  in Russia

 
   Historical  Footnote

In  August  1942  the Krasin  was spotted  in the frozen Kara  Sea  by 
a   German  plane:  and the Admiral  Scheer,  200 miles away,  was 
instantly radioed and orderd in to sink the Krasin.  The  sea-ice was too 
thick  and impossible for the Admiral   Scheer to push  through,   so 
the Krasin simply stayed put  in the ice till the cold became too much 
for the German ship’s crew.  When the Admiral Scheer  left,  the Krasin
went back to work with the  convoys sailing to  Murmansk, guiding in over a half-million
tons of war supplies between 1942  and 1945.
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