Meet Marina Starovoytova – the first woman captain of a nuclear-powered icebreaker!
This former rural teacher has taken charge of the nuclear-powered icebreaker ‘Yamal’, which regularly sails to the North Pole.
"Do you know where Unecha is? I think that only a few could boast a true knowledge of the country's geography. And I was born there, in a small town in the Bryansk region. I have only seen the sea in reproductions of Aivazovsky's paintings, or in the books of Hemingway and Stevenson”, Starovoytova wrote in a magazine column last year, when she was still the first mate aboard the ‘Yamal’. In our family, we specialized in the navy mainly thanks to our favorite recipe: navy-style macaroni. Mom was a nurse, and dad was a railroad engineer.”
During school, Maria didn't think about the sea either, but wanted to serve in the airborne troops, of all places! She wanted to enroll in paratrooper school, but in the 1990s, according to her recollections, this turned out to be impossible. She instead entered a pedagogical university, later working as a Russian language and literature teacher in rural schools in her native Bryansk Region.
One day, she accidentally heard that they were recruiting women for the Murmansk Shipping Company, and decided to make sudden changes to her life.
“That’s how I became a duty officer on the nuclear container ship ‘Sevmorput’. My duties included cleaning the rooms, washing dishes, and serving food in the crew’s dining room. The work is important. The crew spends months at sea and needs to feel that they are being cared for, and that warmth and comfort are brought into their lives,” the Starovoytova recalled.
The first voyage to the Arctic took place in 2005 and lasted 11 months. It was difficult, but she survived. “The Arctic is endless icy expanses, the northern lights, icebergs shimmering in the sun and polar bears. It’s impossible to take your eyes off them.”
Afterwards, Marina entered the Admiral S. O. Makarov Naval Academy’s navigation department, and worked as a regular sailor at the same time (you can’t get anywhere without experience).
Having received a diploma of watch officer, she worked as third and second officer aboard transport vessels. In 2017, she made first mate.
Two years later, Starovoytova got a job at the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Atomflot, where she began as first mate aboard the nuclear icebreaker ‘Yamal’ - now serving as its captain.
The appointment took place with pomp, at a concert dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the nuclear industry in Nizhny Novgorod. Prior to Starovoitova, only Diana Kiji from St. Petersburg had reached similar status, becoming the world's first female navigator on a nuclear icebreaker in 2018, aboard the ‘50 Years of Victory’.
Maria dedicates all her time on land to raising her 12-year-old son.
