Their three 1,800-horsepower (1,300 kW) 10-cylinder 13D100 two-stroke opposed-piston diesel engines were coupled to generators that powered electric propulsion motors driving two propellers in the stern and a third one in the bow.

[2] The tenth of twelve Project 97A icebreakers was laid down at Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad on 12 January 1970, launched on 29 July 1970, and delivered to the Sakhalin Shipping Company on 14 December 1970.

The vessel was named Fyodor Litke after Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke, a German-Russian navigator, geographer, and Arctic explorer.

[2] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Fyodor Litke passed over to the successor state, Russia, and its port of registry was changed to Vanino.

[4] In 2000, Fyodor Litke was transferred to Sakhalin Basin Emergency Department and its port of registry changed back to Kholmsk.