Mikhail Lazarev (1788-1851) was a celebrated Russian sea captain and navigator, admiral, Black Sea Navy Fleet Commander and one of the discoverers of the Antarctic.
He commanded the Mirny sloop as part of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1819-1821, which discovered the sixth continent on Earth.
The vessel named after Mikhail Lazarev is part of a series of unique shuttle tankers built for year-round transportation of crude oil from the Gulf of Ob as part of the Novy Port project.
All vessels of this series are designed for year-round operations in the Arctic Sea basin. With an ice class of Arc7, they are capable of sailing independently through ice up to 1.8 metres thick and operating at temperatures down to minus 45 degrees Centigrade.
Mikhail Lazarev is registered under the Russian flag, with Saint Petersburg as her home port.
