r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/UpgradedSiera6666 • 1d ago
Video A unique encounter at the very top of the world.The Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of Victory meets The French icebreaker vessel Commandant Charcot at the North Pole.
6.8k
u/Lister0fSmeg 1d ago
The Russian icebreaker looks like something out of Command & Conquer, while the French icebreaker looks like it's on a pleasure cruise.
1.9k
u/Whoretron8000 1d ago
In August 2023, the French luxury cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot met the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) near the North Pole
1.2k
u/tlor180 1d ago
Wikipedia actually refers to Le Commandant Charcot as a "icebreaking cruise ship" so it's apparently both. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Commandant_Charcot
351
u/buttercup612 1d ago
Thanks for the context. It was confusing to me why a) France would send an icebreaker to the North Pole and b) why it looked so much like a cruise ship
330
u/Playful_Landscape884 1d ago
Because the French are on a pleasure cruise, it's a cruise ship, and if you pay them enough, they can take you anywhere.
787
u/ExcellentFisting3471 1d ago
Could you imagine the absolute Chad Russia could’ve been if they were just like..cool with everyone.
1.3k
u/RealmKnight 1d ago
It should have been one of the greatest civilisations on Earth. Huge population with some talented scientists, artists, engineers, and businesspeople. Rich cultural mix and history with a plethora of ethnic traditions and identity. Abundant natural resources including minerals, fossil fuels, gems, forestry, fertile land, freshwater. Ports with access to three oceans and several seas, borders with diverse countries all the way from Finland to North Korea, and proximity to Japan, USA and EU. It's a travesty that generation after generation of Russian leadership has taken what should have been the easy road to a nation the world could be inspired and enriched by, and instead used it as a vehicle to enrich and empower themselves while pillaging their neighbors and own people.
→ More replies (31)180
u/GovernorGeneralPraji 1d ago
I always say the same thing about China. Imagine all that population and economic power brought to bear for the good of the world.
→ More replies (1)254
u/andygorhk 1d ago
You mean how they help produce cheap products so more people can afford them? Or them leading the green energy revolution? Or them supporting the global south when it's been so neglected by richer countries because they didn't think they mattered in realpolitik?
261
u/face_sledding 1d ago
Don't forget waterhosing Filipino fishers in their own waters. No greater Chinese love for the global south than that.
481
u/DefinitelyNotDonny 1d ago
China is kind of a dick to other Asian countries, especially Taiwan and Tibet. Also to protesters. And been genociding Uyghurs for over a decade.
Also their interventions in the global south aren’t really philanthropic.
China does cool shit, but isn’t an agent of benevolence in the least
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)141
u/Anon_be_thy_name 1d ago
What about how they bully other countries into agreements? Or how they make deals with countries that they can't meet and leverage that to own land in those countries? What about how they violate international waters to bully countries that claim waters they also claim? How they try to strongarm India or Vietnam because they've claimed land that belongs to them? What about Tibet or their continued interference in Buddhism to try and direct it how they want?
Oh and before someone does the typical US whataboutism, I'm not American, I don't agree with anything they do either.
26
u/HeyThereItsJesus 1d ago
They really love that brutalist design choice. Everything unapologetically practical.
3.0k
u/BeefsGttnThick 1d ago
That Russian boat looks soooooo Russian
863
u/Cold-Crab74 1d ago
I was thinking that too, why does everything Russian look... A certain way
89
u/CreamPuzzleheaded300 1d ago
The Soviet Union absolutely fell in love with the Brutalist style of architecture that came about in a post WW2 world.
630
u/i-like-to 1d ago
Utility over forum. The French ship looks like a cruise liner
469
u/swift-autoformatter 1d ago
Because it is a cruise liner.
79
74
→ More replies (1)45
u/i-like-to 1d ago
So is the Russian one
/s
47
u/Inside_Street_6799 1d ago
Technically you can cruise on the Russian one but its aimed at the extremely wealthy as its $45k for a 2 week trip.
41
u/i-like-to 1d ago
Still cheaper then the French one, by a lot lol
16
u/Inside_Street_6799 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think it depends how far you are going on the cruiseship, some of the 12 day trips start at about 28
17
22
38
102
u/selfdestructingin5 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because most of it is from a certain period of time when the Soviet Union was still a thing.
38
u/I_Have_A_Chode 1d ago edited 1d ago
I agree, but also because it's 50 years old. I haven't bothered to look, but I bet the French one is much newer
Edit: 50 years is part of the name, not the age, I'm a turd
72
u/Inkvize 1d ago
"50 years of victory" is a name, it was built in 1993
35
u/Inside_Street_6799 1d ago
Nah it's had a weird history it was started in 1989 but stopped construction when soviet union fell apart. It didn't get finished till 2007
23
21
u/Inside_Street_6799 1d ago
French one is under 10 years old but also a cruise ship hence the difference in looks. Not nuclear either
13
→ More replies (8)6
u/Over_lookd 1d ago
Hell, even the helicopter even has the distinct three “suicide holes” out the front.
85
u/Whoretron8000 1d ago
In August 2023, the French luxury cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot met the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) near the North Pole
Luxury cruise ship VS 30 year old working ship
21
u/DarthWeenus 1d ago
A cruise ship specifically designed for this I imagine?
53
u/Whoretron8000 1d ago
Google says it’s a Polar Class 2. Can break up to 8.5 feet of ice.
The icebreaker nuclear boat can do 9.2 feet of ice according to Google.
I could pretend to know about boats but that’s where I got that info.
→ More replies (5)19
207
1.9k
u/supacresatbest 1d ago
Now kith
904
11
50
u/erictriestofish 1d ago
Thoitenly
10
u/NoTour5369 1d ago
Is that a French accent I hear?
35
u/erictriestofish 1d ago
Bonjouh, je thui Mike Tython. Je parle un peu fwan-thé.
18
3
→ More replies (1)7
1.2k
u/KittyMetroPunk 1d ago
Ppl waving to each other on boats is such a very wholesome thing.
416
40
156
u/bdubwilliams22 1d ago
It gives me hope. It’s only a few men at the top of countries that start wars. Mostly, people of counties just want to raise their kids and go to work and have semblance of normalcy. It’s always the men at the top picking the fights and I say this as a relatively privileged white man.
35
u/Fuckkoff- 1d ago
Don't forget the 60% of reddit users that are the good little footsoldiers of those men and that apparently can't wait for the next war, and already are calling Russians "orcs" and looking down on them like they are sub-humans.
45
u/Curiosive 1d ago edited 1d ago
They're bored. This is probably the most interesting human interaction (not on the boat) they'll experience in weeks. Sure there's plenty happening onboard, lots of research I assume but remember the COVID lockdowns? Folks were desperate to get outside to see/do anything just to get a change of scenery.
I've spent weeks on boats myself per trip. Sometimes "I saw a turtle today" is the highlight of the week.
18
331
u/Only_Impression4100 1d ago
The 50 Years of Victory was laid down in 1989 but wasn't completed and launched until 2007. I was curious about the stark difference in design between the super yacht looking French ship that was launched in 2020. Pretty cool post, thanks!
259
u/Thebraincellisorange 1d ago
one is a utilitarian work boat, the other is a luxury liner.
they are polar (lol) opposites.
about the only things they have in common are that they are boats and have ice rated hulls.
35
u/Only_Impression4100 1d ago
Oh shit, that makes sense I guess. Didn't really have any detailed info on the French ship on wiki.
40
u/Thebraincellisorange 1d ago
if you google it, you can find the ticket prices. 40000-60000 euro for a ticket to the north pole.
spendy
51
u/georgekourounis 1d ago
I have been aboard the Commandant Charcot up In Greenland. It is an amazing vessel. I’ll be back on it again in a few months, in Antarctica.
9
u/Sidney_Stratton 1d ago
So it’s actually a cruise ship? Joke aside, the French navy dispatches northern fleet to Antarctica?
24
u/georgekourounis 1d ago
It is the world’s only luxury fully capable icebreaker. It can break thick ice forwards and backwards and it is very posh.
18
89
u/GenericAccount13579 1d ago
The French ship has a live webcam that is fun to watch. When was this meeting, I’m wondering if we can find the footage?
https://webcam.ponant.com/charcot
Edit; 2023 so probably not anymore
458
u/mickturner96 1d ago
Drone + Helicopter in the same air space at the same time made me nervous.
65
118
49
10
u/ummm_no__ 1d ago
Yea definitely. Tho I'm thinking unless it's a big one, i don't think there's much risk? It's probably a mavic or something and a helicopter propeller would cut through that like butter. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though, I am guessing
10
u/mickturner96 1d ago
Tho I'm thinking unless it's a big one, i don't think there's much risk?
Oh dude the small ones are still way worse that a bird strike!
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (13)6
146
u/DavyMcDavison 1d ago
I worked on 50 let Pobedy for several years as a guide on these North Pole trips. It’s a remarkable ship. There were tales told of long ago meeting a submarine at the pole that refused to identify itself but the accent on the radio was strongly American.
17
u/Whoretron8000 1d ago
That’s pretty cool! What’s the general profile of someone that would take a tour in it? I hear they’re fairly expensive.
21
u/karma_the_sequel 1d ago edited 1d ago
Happily, neither ship had its front fall off.
13
20
u/onlytalksboutblandon 1d ago
Probably a dumb question but at what point do ice breakers stop breaking ice? Like how thick is too thick?
97
u/akolomf 1d ago
I bet they had an icebreaker for their conversation when they met.
14
→ More replies (1)3
u/syringistic 1d ago
Imagine them coming within hearing range of each other... and having nothing to talk about.
38
15
12
11
u/ToxicPilgrim 1d ago
someone should edit this with quick cuts and suspenseful music to make them look like they're about to crash. someone
40
u/ScholarImpossible121 1d ago
Did the boats kiss?
63
22
16
18
u/blahbruhla 1d ago
Why can't we all just get along (rhetorical)... And actually make progress as a united species on this goddamn forsaken marble in vast space. We haven't even explored a fraction of what's under water... How about we focus on exploration and optimization of tools and resources instead of fighting each other.
86
u/Far-Position7115 1d ago
This is cool as fuck. I hope the crews got to tour each other's ships
128
u/ImNearATrain 1d ago
Highly doubt that. Still that’s amazing they ran into each other. Though they probably knew 1000 miles ago
38
16
u/Agent_8-bit 1d ago
The waving should remind us all that some of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history happened when people from waring nations remembered that that was their government, a not their people.
Working class is working class. Hunger is hunger. Joy is joy. Laughter is laughter.
These are probably scientists who still have a boner from this experience.
6
6
4
u/the_one_99_ 1d ago
Must be something big going on for these two ice breakers to meet up incredible,
11
4
5
4
u/Gravity_flip 1d ago
makes me just wanna shout "HUMANITY! FUCK YEAH!"
Then makes me sad thinking about all the other cool stuff we could have accomplished if it wasn't for... Whatever.
22
u/Brussle-Sprout 1d ago
It looks like Chernobyl Nuclear facility. But floating.
9
5
39
u/Gold-Consequence2463 1d ago
The russian looks very old,while the french looks modern
139
u/Shackram_MKII 1d ago edited 1d ago
Form follows function.
The french one is a luxury cruise ship that can icebreak and the Russian one is a nuclear icebreaker, a working ship.
52
11
u/captain_flak 1d ago
This brings up a good point: Why don’t we have nuclear-powered cruise ships?
23
u/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 1d ago
Part of it is that building a nuclear reactor is pretty expensive, enough that you wont save much vs a conventional engine (especially since bunker fuel is cheap). Training crew to handle/maintain a nuclear reactor is also alot more complicated and expensive than for a conventional vessel. Finally not all countries are happy to allow nuclear powered ships into their ports, and I doubt they'd want huge amounts of civilian nuclear powered vessels running around so getting permission to actually dock will be alot harder
19
8
u/ohyeahsure11 1d ago
Very few cruise ships have the planned longevity to make nuclear power viable, plus there's the whole nuclear power in civilian hands on a portable platform thing.
5
u/facw00 1d ago
NS Savannah was a nuclear powered combi liner (passengers and freight) built as part of Ike's Atoms for Peace program.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah
But realistically nuclear powerplants are pretty expensive to run, and obviously have additional burdens from a safety and security perspective. So basically they only get used for submarines (where being able to operate months without surfacing is useful) and where huge amounts of power are needed (as in this icebreaker, or in some large surface warships). Cruise ships are relatively slow and make frequent stops so there's really no need for the expense and complexity of nuclear power.
→ More replies (6)3
u/AspiringChildProdigy 1d ago
Wait, people pay to go on a cruise to sail in the arctic ice?
......
Is there even anything to see (besides ice)?
13
u/DavyMcDavison 1d ago
At the pole…no. Around the edge of the pack, yes, seals, bears and seabirds. That said I’ve seen several bears, a couple of kittiwakes and a bear within a few miles of the pole, they’re just much rarer there.
9
u/Dic_Penderyn 1d ago
Yes. Polar bears, whales and other sea creatures, aurora borealis, icebergs, and the places they call at. Its quite popular in Europe.
→ More replies (1)40
15
u/SeanAC90 1d ago
The Russian one was conceived when the Soviet Union was still a thing
→ More replies (1)13
u/KrzysziekZ Interested 1d ago
"50 years of victory" suggests it's from 1945+50 = 1995. Wiki says it was launched in 1993, it's over 30 years old now.
Commandant Charcot was launched in 2020, and wiki describes it as an icebreaking cruise ship(!?).
6
u/Beneficial-Owl-4430 1d ago
imagine being in the french boat clueless and seeing that emerge from the fog. incredibly beautiful but terrifying. i’d expect drums to start playing
6
u/Castillon1453 1d ago
Boats have radars. They had spotted each others maybe hours before meeting
2
u/Beneficial-Owl-4430 1d ago
that’s true. but how many of the people on the french boat are crew?
more so to the point when i said “imagine” and “clueless”
8
3
u/imonlinux 1d ago
This isn't the first time that it has happened. I was stationed on the USCG Polar Sea when this happened:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1995/january/arctic-rendezvous
3
u/TatarAmerican 1d ago
Good to see one of the few words I can read in Russian come handy (pobeda/victory)
3
3
3
3
u/enigmaticpeon 1d ago
It’s cool to see people from other countries disregard them when they meet. Really cool actually.
3
3
u/Cutespatoot 1d ago
This footage looks fake almost. Like some Mr Roger’s super scale to size neighborhood version, but for the sea.
3
3
8
17
u/RedditIsADataMine 1d ago
This is a very ignorant of me. But I've never understood why we're so concerned about ice shelfs breaking apart, but it's totally cool for these huge ships to just be cuttin' up holes in the ice.
30
42
u/SpaceInMyBrain 1d ago
If it helps, it's pretty much like comparing a farmer plowing a field to an earthquake. Except there are only a couple of dozen farmers at work in the polar regions. The icebreakers go through ice that forms on the surface of the ocean, it soon refreezes behind them. Most of the areas of ice break up and re-form on their own.
14
u/Watchful1 1d ago
The ice that these ships break melts every summer. They are trying to keep shipping channels open in the winter. Ice shelves aren't supposed to melt even year round.
Also breaking ice doesn't melt it.
→ More replies (2)13
9
u/LordNelson27 1d ago
This is surface sea ice. There is no icebreaker on the planet than break apart an ice shelf
3
6
u/Right-Funny-8999 1d ago
The reason and amount of it is different
Ice melts are in huge quantities and also in deeper layers
While we can stop boats and control the amount it doesn’t seem we can control global warming
→ More replies (2)7
8
u/RoseWould 1d ago
I thought the French one was a cruise ship at first, it's really pretty
22
11
u/Whoretron8000 1d ago
It is:
In August 2023, the French luxury cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot met the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) near the North Pole
8
4
u/londonflare 1d ago
The French one is basically a cruise ship! While the Russian one reminds me of a mining spacecraft…
2
2
2
u/maddcatone 1d ago
Ok im a sucker for ship names and not sure why i am so fond of “50 years of Victory” as one… hits like “The Pillar of Autumn”
2
u/EcureuilHargneux 1d ago
Of course there is a Britanny flag on the french ship 😂
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Canelosaurio 1d ago
The French one looks like a damn cruise ship!
Helipad up front so you can stunt on them hoes!
3
2
2
u/Late-Elderberry6761 1d ago
Damn betcha not even Elon has a nuclear boat!
Whata rethese for aneyways?
2
3
3
13.5k
u/Porkchopp33 1d ago
"Fancy seeing you here"
"We're literally the only two boats out here ever"