Volodarskiy was named after V. Volodarsky (Moisey Markovich Goldshteyn) (1891–1918), a Russian revolutionary and an early Soviet politician.
In 1933 Volodarskiy took part in the first Soviet convoy to the mouth of the Lena, under Captain N. V. Smagin, along with steamers Pravda and Tovarich Stalin.
On the way back, severe ice conditions in the Vilkitsky Strait (between Severnaya Zemlya and Cape Chelyuskin), forced the three freighters of the convoy to winter at Ostrov Samuila in the Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands.
A shore station was built and a full scientific programme maintained all winter by leader scientist N. N. Urvantsev and his wife, Dr. Yelizaveta Ivanovna, the expedition's medical officer.
The three ships were released in the following year by Feodor Litke after much effort to break a channel through the thick ice.