Development of Explosive Ice Breaking Technology for Navigation Purposes in the USSR in the 1930s

Using explosive substances for ice breaking to ensure navigation was suggested way back by M.V. Lomonosov. Practical application of explosives in the Arctic began only in the second half of the 19th century. The use of explosives in the Arctic navigation became an important issue in the late 1920s/early 1930s. The emergence of interest in a new explosive substance, thermite, played an important role in the development of these technologies. A study of thermite in the Arctic in 1930 demonstrated its unsuitability for the purpose but prompted the elucidation of high efficiency of ammonite and ammonal. In the next five years, in record time, a methodology for using these explosives in the Arctic was
developed in general terms.