Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954
Icebreakers have traditionally been seen as symbols of technological nationalism. While ship science for open-water vessels developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, understanding of how to cope with polar and subarctic ice conditions lagged behind. This led state organizat...
Published in: | International Journal of Maritime History |
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crsagepubl:10.1177/08438714211062493 2023-05-15T16:42:02+02:00 Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 Sahari, Aaro Matala, Saara Emil Aaltosen Säätiö 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08438714211062493 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/08438714211062493 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/08438714211062493 en eng SAGE Publications https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY International Journal of Maritime History volume 33, issue 4, page 722-747 ISSN 0843-8714 2052-7756 Transportation History journal-article 2021 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714211062493 2022-04-14T04:37:46Z Icebreakers have traditionally been seen as symbols of technological nationalism. While ship science for open-water vessels developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, understanding of how to cope with polar and subarctic ice conditions lagged behind. This led state organizations in charge of icebreaking services to minimize risks in the development of new vessels by encouraging transnational expert cooperation. This article argues that such interactions were critical to the evolution of the modern icebreaker. We examine the development of three icebreakers in different countries in successive decades, and the critical technologies with which they are associated: the Ymer from Sweden and diesel–electric propulsion (1933); the American ‘Wind’ class and power-hull proportion (1942–1946); and the Voima from Finland and twin bow propellers (1956). We reconstruct the flow of information to explain the rationale for transnational cooperation in maritime technology development. The concept of ‘technology carriers’ is deployed in the analysis to enhance understanding of the role of international cooperation in polar and winter seafaring. Article in Journal/Newspaper Icebreaker Subarctic SAGE Publications (via Crossref) Titan ENVELOPE(33.629,33.629,67.560,67.560) International Journal of Maritime History 33 4 722 747 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Transportation History |
spellingShingle |
Transportation History Sahari, Aaro Matala, Saara Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
topic_facet |
Transportation History |
description |
Icebreakers have traditionally been seen as symbols of technological nationalism. While ship science for open-water vessels developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, understanding of how to cope with polar and subarctic ice conditions lagged behind. This led state organizations in charge of icebreaking services to minimize risks in the development of new vessels by encouraging transnational expert cooperation. This article argues that such interactions were critical to the evolution of the modern icebreaker. We examine the development of three icebreakers in different countries in successive decades, and the critical technologies with which they are associated: the Ymer from Sweden and diesel–electric propulsion (1933); the American ‘Wind’ class and power-hull proportion (1942–1946); and the Voima from Finland and twin bow propellers (1956). We reconstruct the flow of information to explain the rationale for transnational cooperation in maritime technology development. The concept of ‘technology carriers’ is deployed in the analysis to enhance understanding of the role of international cooperation in polar and winter seafaring. |
author2 |
Emil Aaltosen Säätiö |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sahari, Aaro Matala, Saara |
author_facet |
Sahari, Aaro Matala, Saara |
author_sort |
Sahari, Aaro |
title |
Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
title_short |
Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
title_full |
Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
title_fullStr |
Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Of a titan, winds and power: Transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
title_sort |
of a titan, winds and power: transnational development of the icebreaker, 1890-1954 |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08438714211062493 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/08438714211062493 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/08438714211062493 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(33.629,33.629,67.560,67.560) |
geographic |
Titan |
geographic_facet |
Titan |
genre |
Icebreaker Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Icebreaker Subarctic |
op_source |
International Journal of Maritime History volume 33, issue 4, page 722-747 ISSN 0843-8714 2052-7756 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714211062493 |
container_title |
International Journal of Maritime History |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
722 |
op_container_end_page |
747 |
_version_ |
1766032492930793472 |