Norwegian prototype
Havbjørn, a complex ship to build, which allowed Komun to enter the Scandinavian market.
This ship, the first ship from Gdynia for the Scandinavian countries, with an interesting history of construction, was of great importance in the export production of the Shipyard. About the Paris Commune. Extremely difficult to build and requiring the use of innovative technologies, it opened the way for this plant to Western customers.
In 1968-1969, contracts were signed with five Norwegian shipowners for 13 B-523 bulk carriers. The first nine were to be 26 tons, and the next four 000 tons. All the shipbuilders who worked on them received additional training in the quality and finish of these complex ships. The prototype was Havbjørn (IMO 23), construction of which began on 000 December 7036527 and launched on 23 October 1969. Sea trials were carried out in March 24. They were successful and the installation achieved all the expected technical parameters.
Engineers Tadeusz Yastrzhebsky, Alexander Kachmarsky and Jan Sochachevsky were responsible for the design and construction of the bulk carrier. The chief technologist was Eng. Alexander Robashkevich, and supervised the construction of Eng. Waldemar Przewloka, M.Sc. Stanislav Voytysiak, engineer Zygmunt Noske and Eng. Jerzy Wilk. This ship with a displacement of one million tons was built in the Gdynia Komun, which consisted of 306 ships of 35 types.
The total length of the Havbjørna is 163,20 m, the beam is 25,90 m, the depth to the main deck is 15,20 m, the maximum draft is 11,00 m. The main drive is a 6 hp Cegielski-Sulzer 76RD10 diesel engine. , speed - 200 knots, cruising range - 15 15 nautical miles.
The ship is a single-rotor, single-deck vessel with a bow and stern, with an engine room at the stern. Designed for transportation of bulk cargoes in bulk, incl. grain, bauxite, limestone, cement and coal in five self-loading holds. Grain capacity - 34 m649. Own handling devices include 3 mobile cranes, grab cranes, 2 t, with an outreach of 16 m. It was a ship with a high degree of automation. Cargo hatches are fitted with McGregor single lever covers with central hydraulic lift. The vessel uses two hydraulic anchor winches and three automatic mooring winches. The paddle-type electro-hydraulic steering mechanism had two pumps, each of which was sufficient to maneuver the rudder and was designed for continuous operation.
All interior spaces for 48 crew members are equipped to high Scandinavian standards. They used very good Western air conditioners and ventilation devices. The ship also has the most modern Norwegian-made radio communication equipment, as well as radio and electronic navigation equipment.
The Havbjørna Gym is designed for intermittent unmanned operation at sea for up to 24 hours. Used automatic and remote control of the main engine.
The automation of the power plant was built according to the “blackout” principle, i.e. in the event that a working chiller was thrown out of the network, another unit was switched on independently, connected to the network and the main propeller pumps were working. to failure were switched on in a certain sequence. The operation of the steam boiler was also fully automatic.
Poles are used to not having to worry too much about deadlines. This was especially true for ships for the USSR, which many of them produced. If something went wrong, there were usually no consequences for it, because the recipient was not too demanding. The shipyard workers were therefore not particularly worried that the collection time was approaching, and the handover of the Norwegian bulk carrier was still a long way off.
The shipowner Hans Otto Meyer from Oslo arrived in the late 1970s with the entire crew for the collection time stipulated in the contract. He was surprised to see Havbjorn's condition. Greatly annoyed, he placed his men in an inn, and they all waited until the ship was finished. Three months passed before he took it into his hands, carefully checking its technical condition. He also calculated the cost of living and eating for his employees. He calculated the losses incurred by the fact that the bulk carrier did not go and did not carry goods. Summa summarum found that all his costs
and the losses coincided with the unit cost. And so on March 29, 1971, the shipyard gave the first ship to the Norwegians free of charge ...
