Fully laden, the vessels drew 5.35 metres (17.6 ft) of water and had a displacement of 2,935 tonnes (2,889 long tons).

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.

Project 97A icebreakers were capable of breaking 70 to 75 centimetres (28 to 30 in) thick snow-covered ice at very slow but continuous speed.

[3] The last of twelve Project 97A icebreakers was laid down at Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad on 30 March 1971, launched on 31 August 1971, and delivered to the Baltic Sea Shipping Company on 28 December 1971.

[3] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Semyon Dezhnev passed over to the successor state, Russia.