The Icebreaker Krasin - David and Goliath
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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