An earlier vessel, the schooner Yermak, was commissioned for the 1862 attempt to find the Yenissei river delta by Paul Theodor von Krusenstern, by navigating from Murmansk through the Kara Sea to the destination, but unfortunately was shipwrecked before obtaining success.

[2] Yermak was built for the Imperial Russian Navy under the supervision of vice-admiral S. O. Makarov by the members of his commission, which included D. I. Mendeleev, engineers N. I. Yankovsky and R. I. Runeberg, admiral F. F. Wrangel, among others.

Yermak had been used in the winter of 1899–1900 to set up the first radio communication link in Russia between Kotka and Gogland (Suursaar) island (distance 47 km).

Yermak served with different branches of the Russian and Soviet Navy and Merchant Marine up until 1964, becoming one of the longest-serving icebreakers in the world.

A monument to the icebreaker Yermak was unveiled in Murmansk In November 1965 – this included mosaic panels and the original anchor on the pedestal.