The S/S Sankt Erik

SS Sankt Erik is an icebreaker and museum ship attached to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. She was launched in 1915 as Isbrytaren II ("Ice breaker II") and was a conventionally-built Baltic icebreaker with a strengthened bow shaped to be lifted up onto the ice to crush it and a forward-facing screw to push water and crushed ice along the side of the hull.

She was the country's first large icebreaker, and was owned and used by the City of Stockholm to keep the channels around it clear of ice. She was also sometimes used outside the Stockholm area by the Swedish government since it had contributed towards her cost.

In 1958, she was renamed Sankt Erik during an extensive refit. This refit saw her converted from coal to oil, the bridge enclosed to protect the deck crew from the weather, and radar and radio fitted.

Sankt Erik features a stem angled to slide up onto the ice, which is then crushed by the weight and force of the vessel. It has a fore propeller that flushes water and crushed ice along the sides of the hull. It also has heeling tanks which can be filled and emptied with seawater in turn to rock the ship to widen the channel.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons