Otso (icebreaker)
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Otso is a Finnish state-owned icebreaker. Built by Wärtsilä Helsinki shipyard in 1986 to replace the aging Karhu-class icebreakers, she was the first Finnish post-war icebreaker to be built without bow propellers. Otso has an identical sister ship, Kontio, which was delivered in 1987.
Otso returning from sea trials to the icebreaker base at Katajanokka, Helsinki, on 18 January 2012.
Otso in unbroken level ice outside Raahe in February 2011.
Otso escorting a merchant ship in the Gulf of Bothnia in March 2011. Close towing, in which the escorted ship is pulled to the towing notch of the icebreaker, is commonly used for smaller vessels.
Icebreaker
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An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels, such as the icebreaking boats that were once used on the canals of the United Kingdom.
USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) at right breaks ice around the Russian-flagged tanker Renda, 250 miles (400 km) south of Nome, Alaska.
A 17th-century Russian koch in a museum
City Ice Boat No. 1 at the Delaware River. The paddle steamer was built in 1837.
Yermak is considered the first true modern sea-going icebreaker.