The Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (or Glavnoe upravlenie Severnogo morskogo puti), also known as Glavsevmorput, was a Soviet government organization in charge of the naval Northern Sea Route

Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...

, established in January 1932 and dissolved in 1964.

History

The organization traces its roots to AO Komseveroput, a shipping company established by Kolchak government

Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...

 and nationalized by Bolsheviks. In May 1931 AO Komseveroput was reorganized into VO Glavkomseveroput; the organization employed 35,000 men scattered all over Arctic, as well as a sizable staff in Moscow and other mainland cities. A new office, Glavsevmorput, was established in December 1932 and absorbed VO Glavkomseveroput in May 1933. Overall management was assigned to arctic explorer Otto Schmidt

Otto Schmidt

Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...

, who previously managed the Arctic Institute

Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, or AARI is the oldest and largest Russian research institute in the field of comprehensive studies of Arctic and Antarctica...

 (VAI, later AANII). Glavsevmorput had its own Polar Air service Aviaarktika

Aviaarktika

Aviaarktika was a Soviet airline which started operations on 1 September 1930 and was absorbed by Aeroflot on 3 January 1960.-History:Aviaarktika was the flying branch of the Department of Polar Aviation of Glavsevmorput. Its first head was Mark Shevelev and it was originally based in Krasnoyarsk...

, headed by Mark Shevelev

Mark Shevelev

Mark Shevelev was a Soviet pilot during World War II and was one of founders and Chief of Staff of Soviet Long Range Aviation. Shevelev held the rank of Lieutenant-General...

.

Glavsevmorput, in addition to Arctic shipping, also became the Soviet agency for exploiting resources across the far north and coordinating supplies and transport. Its aim was to contribute to the development of northern coastal Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

; the office was empowered to establish seaports, conduct extensive research and trade with United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as was necessary to its principal function. The organization's quick unchecked expansion, especially in its Moscow offices, was initially masked by the successes of 1934-1936 seasons.

However, the season of 1937, through a combination of unrealistic plans, bad weather and bad luck, was a disaster. 25 of 64 ships dispatched on the route (many of them not fit to Arctic conditions) were trapped with crews and cargoes in the Arctic winter; one, Rabochiy, sank. The debacle that coincided with Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

 led to a string of arrests; at least 673 of Glavsevmorput personnel were arrested in a domino effect

Domino effect

The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...

 NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

 operation. The oversized organization was streamlined and stripped of auxiliary functions that were delegated to Dalstroy

Dalstroy

Dalstroy , also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 by the Soviet NKVD in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East, now known as Kolyma. Initially it was established as State Trust for Road and...

 (land facilities) and Gostorg (foreign trade). Glavsevmorput concentrated exclusively on maintaining the Northern Sea route, specifically, its coastal shipping line.

Otto Schmidt, once an extremely highly publicized personality, was spared but demoted to scientific duties; overall management of the organization was assigned to Ivan Papanin

Ivan Papanin

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin was a Russian Polar Explorer, Scientist,Counter Admiral, twice Hero of the Soviet Union awarded nine Orders of Lenin...

, a famous North Pole

North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

 explorer. Papanin's first season, 1939, was a relatively safe and successful one; the Northern Route was now a functioning regular line, rather than a dangerous experiment.

In 1953 the organization, previously enjoying the ranks of national ministry, was downgraded to a department within the Ministry of Merchant Fleet. In 1964 the department was dissolved. Its units were reassigned to Ministry of Merchant Fleet, Commission for Meteorology and Ministry of Civil Aviation. The system, however, continued working and reached peak capacity in 1987.

A large island at the mouth of the Kolyma River

Kolyma River

The Kolyma River is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. Itrises in the mountains north of Okhotsk and Magadan, in the area of and...

(Mikhalkino) was named Glavsevmorput (or GUSMP Island) in the honour of the organization 69°30′N 161°30′E.