“Suur Tõll” is the largest preserved steam icebreaker in the world. The picture shows how she looked in the mid 1920s. ILLUSTRATION: HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM

Icebreaker with many names and flags

When the government of Russia ordered an icebreaker for the Baltic Sea in 1912 from the German shipyard Vulcan Werft, a design representing the state of the art in icebreaker technology at that time was chosen. The ordered vessel was of the well-proven American type, with its two funnels resembling her Finnish Newcastle-built colleagues “Sampo” and “Tarmo” – in both exterior and design. This design, however, measured 3,619 tons in displacement, as compared with the 2,400 tons “Tarmo” and the 2,050 tons “Sampo”. The icebreaker was named “Tsar Mihhail Fjodorovits”, and arrived at St Petersburg for the first time in February 1914. The initiative for the ordering had been taken by Tallinn Exchange Committee and the purpose was to get a large and powerful icebreaker to ensure the growing seaborne trade to and from Tallinn, even in winter. In these waters, the new icebreaker replaced the smaller“Stadt Reval”.
Her three steam engines had an output of 2,000 hp each, distributed to two shafts in the stern and one in the bow. The steam was generated by six boilers. With an exceptional beam of 19.2 m, she was able to break a much wider channel than the Finnish icebreakers of the same era.
During the Russian revolution of 1917, the icebreaker was taken over by the Bolcheviks, who renamed her “Volynets”. However, “Volynets” did not remain in the revolutionaries’ hands for long. As early as on March 29, 1918, she was captured by the Finns and renamed Wäinämöinen.
Due to the Tartu Peace Treaty, Wäinämöinen was handed over to Estonia in November 1922. She was given the new name “Suur Tõll” after a mythological hero from Saaremaa.
“Suur Tõll” became the largest icebreaker of Estonia, and assisted vessels on the Gulf of Finland until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940. Again, the icebreaker became Russian, but now she hoisted the Soviet ensign.
In the summer of 1941, she made some voyages from Tallinn to Leningrad. The most dramatic of them was the evacuation of the Soviet regime of Estonia. The vessel sailed through the Juminda minefield and was attacked several times by bombers. However, the icebreaker reached Leningrad without any damage. In Leningrad, she took on her old revolutionary name “Volynets” and the whole crew was exchanged.
“Volynets” remained under Soviet ownership until the end of her active career in the early 1980s. After that, she was used for generating steam power until 1985. In 1988, when breaking up seemed inevitability for this veteran, Estonia demanded that she should be returned. She was in poor condition, but her three steam engines were still intact.
Many original interior details and furniture have been preserved in the officers’ mess and cabins. Some changes had of course been made over the years. The most visible was the new bridge one deck above the original one, from a refit in 1927-28.
Today, “Suur Tõll” is one of the main maritime attractions in Estonia. She belongs to the Estonian Maritime Museum and is moored in the old harbour of Tallinn. Unfortunately, preservation of this valuable museum vessel is slow due to lack of financing.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström