ICE SEAMANSHIP
Lieutenant Commander Frank Luckel, U. S. Navy
The experience of the U.S.S. Saturn in the ice at Vladivostok during the winter of 1918-19 may be of interest, especially to those who encounter similar conditions. The Saturn anchored in the Bosporus, off the Northern shore of Russian Island, on December 29, 1918. As cargo, she carried about two thousand tons of radio construction material. Her mission was to complete the partly built radio station which had been started on Russian Island by the old Czarist Government. At the time of arrival a small amount of light broken ice was floating in the harbor. This interfered but little with the operation of the ship's boats and considerable general cargo was landed during the forenoon of December 30. During the afternoon the wind began to blow from the North and soon drove in sufficient ice to make it impossible to operate the boats. When hoisted, the boats were found to have the planking along the water lines seriously gouged out.
The ice floes became larger on December 31, and prevented stores being landed. New Year's Eve the wind increased to a gale and drove huge cakes of heavy ice shoreward. New Year's Day broke clear and cold with the ship frozen in by ice about three feet thick. Heavy sleds with metal runners were built and used to transport both heavy and light cargo ashore. The regular course of the Russian ice breaking tug lay near the offshore side of the Saturn. In time the ice on this side was loosened and floated away. The ice no longer supporting that side of the vessel, the Saturn tended to move away from the firm shore ice. Something had to be done if the ship was to continue to discharge cargo. Hawsers were laid out shoreward over the ice. Holes were cut in the ice and the hawsers made fast to cross-pieces of heavy wood which were placed at the bottom of each hole. When a strain was put on each line the cross-piece brought up firmly against the lower surface of the ice and the ship was breasted bodily in. The heavy shore ice served as a dock. At the time of laying out these lines the ship was moored by two anchors dropped with a good span.
Stores and heavy machinery were hoisted out by the ship's booms and hauled ashore on the sleds. The breast lines became slack every few hours and permitted the vessel to move away from the ice. This necessitated frequent adjustment of the Hues if the booms were to plumb the solid ice. At first the cause for this was not apparent. Later it developed that the internal heat of the ship melted the ice as soon as it came into proximity with the ship's skin. This continuous breasting in eventually brought the vessel to a position from which the anchor chains tended broad off the off-shore beam. The tension on the anchors and the weight of the chain cables soon made it very hard to breast the ship in sufficiently to permit handling cargo. The melting of the ice about the bow and stern permitted the ship to surge ahead and astern under the influence of the wind and tide. It was decided to have an ice breaker make a lane into the heavy field ice and then place the vessel therein. Here she would be completely ice locked.
An ice breaker has a heavy clipper bow that rides up over the ice and the weight of the vessel serves to break the ice down. While waiting for the ice breaker to arrive the Saturn was tried out as an ice breaker. She was headed at slow speed for the ice field and as her bow entered the ice a crack appeared ahead. The ice field slowly parted but the ship's way was effectively checked before she entered very far. No further progress could be made using the engines at full speed ahead. Any attempt to force a way into the ice while moving at high speed would have seriously damaged the ship's structure. The ship was backed clear and anchored to await the arrival of the ice breaker when a lane was promptly made.
The Saturn steamed slowly down this lane until she brought up with solid ice ahead. The anchor was then dropped but the ice was so thick that it failed to penetrate and merely rested on the surface. Although the ship was surrounded by heavy ice, hawsers were led out in all directions to furnish additional security. Each hawser was secured to a wooden beam at the bottom of each ice hole. Eventually the hawsers froze to the surface which made them all the more secure. The ice field remained unbroken so that no considerable strain was thrown on these lines. The ice melted for only a few inches from the ship's skin and the movement of the vessel was very slight. Beyond this the original thickness was not appreciably diminished.
It was so cold in the living compartments that icicles froze along the outer bulkheads above the water line. The sea water was twenty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. Since this was four degrees below the freezing point of fresh water some concern was felt that the reserve feed tanks under the engine rooms would freeze solid. A careful watch was kept on these tanks but the water never froze, probably due to the ship's internal warmth. Gravity tanks and fresh water pipes were kept from freezing by steam heating coils and insulation.
During the time that cargo was being discharged the weather continued extremely cold. When the hour of sailing approached the ice breaker had considerable difficulty breaking the heavy ice to permit the ship getting clear. When a passage had been broken the Saturn was partly towed and partly backed down the lane using a line to the ice breaker. When about half way out, the tow line parted close to the Saturn. Unfortunately the line was a new hawser and the ice breaker decided to keep going with their end. We never saw our line or the ice breaker again. We were only half way down the channel and entirely dependent upon our own power. The engine was thrown at full speed astern. Naturally the stern tended to port and was fended off the ice as the ship moved backward. Large floating ice cakes were sucked under the vessel and occasionally the engine would slow up as a particularly thick piece was cut in two by one of the blades.
After much backing and stopping the relatively ice-free channel was reached. With a feeling of relief the ship was headed for Olongapo and the Chief Engineer told to make his best speed. He was surprised to find the engine turning out 110 revolutions while she had never made over ninety before. Upon investigation it was found that two adjacent blades of the single screw were broken off at the hub. This casualty had undoubtedly been experienced in backing clear of the ice field. The loss of these blades did not cut down the speed to any appreciable extent and we entered the Dewey Dry Dock on the eighth day after leaving Vladivostok. Spare blades being on board repairs were soon effected and our experiences in the North were soon forgotten under tropical skies.