LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Icebreakers
built 291 days ago
Icebreakers are expensive ships to build and maintain because of the high technology incorporated in their special features and equipment. In the past they were laid up for several months a year, until the return of the ice, a situation that made no sense economically. The answer was the multipurpose icebreaker. The most modern of the Finnish Maritime Administration's icebreakers are designed as multipurpose vessels, fully operational throughout the year. What do they do when there is no call for them to assist ships approaching the Baltic ice? Well, they are designed, as the FMA explains, for demanding operations in open water and heavy seas.
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Icebreakers are little exercises that help relax tension and loosen up a formal atmosphere. Starting a meeting or brainstorm with an icebreaker can help get the creative juices flowing and get everyone in a mood to participate.
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Icebreakers are a great way to begin a meeting. They help to relax participants, and that makes them more receptive to listening and contributing. An ice breaker can ... serve to build a team atmosphere and to generate enthusiasm. Ice breakers can be fun, amusing, humorous, thoughtful, surprising or just plain silly. The days of one-liner jokes as ice breakers are gone, and there are many new creative ideas. The most popular are games that have participants reveal something personal about themselves, or which encourage participants to get to know each other personally.
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Icebreakers are constructed with a double hull and watertight compartments in case of a breach. The ship's hull is thicker than normal, especially at the bow, stern, and waterline, using special steel that has optimum performance at low temperatures. The thicker steel at the waterline typically extends about 1 m above and below the waterline, and is reinforced with extra internal ribbing, sometimes twice the ribbing of a normal ship. The bow is rounded rather than pointed, allowing the vessel to ride up over the ice, breaking it with the weight of the vessel. The hull has no appendages likely to be damaged by the ice, and the rudder and propeller are protected by the shape of the hull. The propeller blades are strengthened, and the vessel has the ability to inspect and replace blades while at sea.[2]
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Greenland waters provided the arena for the Coast Guard icebreakers' most visible contribution to the war effort. On April 9, 1941, President Roosevelt pledged U.S. support to Denmark in resisting any Nazi attempt to take the island. The security of the Western Hemisphere depended in part on preventing it from falling into enemy hands, as both escort and emergency vessels for the Atlantic convoys were based there. Consequently the Coast Guard became a major part of the Greenland Patrol, operating some 24 vessels in her waters, about eleven of which were equipped for icebreaking. Among these were the veteran Northland, the 165 foot Modoc and Comanche (with their reinforced bows), the wooden icebreaker North Star, three 110 foot cutters, three 180 footers, the Storis, and finally, the old Bear (now part of the Navy, she was operated by Coast Guard personnel.) The new Eastwind and Southwind were ... on duty in Greenland waters during the last winter of the war.
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From those early beginnings in winter navigation Finland gradually developed unrivalled expertise in the construction of icebreakers and ice strengthened ships. It is now taken for granted that Finland's compact, effective fleet of icebreakers guarantees that seaborne trade to and from the country's seaports goes on uninterrupted at all times, whatever the weather. That is its winter job. It is an impressive achievement when one recalls that Finland is the northernmost country in the European Union and one of the few countries in the world where all harbours are ice-bound during normal winters, some of them for as long as six months. Much of Finland's foreign trade would come to a standstill without icebreakers. Obviously this is not the only country that is heavily dependent on seaborne transport - it is difficult to name a country that is not, either directly or indirectly - but the difference in Finland is that during the winter navigation is possible only with the assistance of icebreakers, which are owned and operated by the Finnish Maritime Administration.
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Icebreakers