It had a tonnage of . The vessel 60m (200feet) long with a beam of 17m (56feet) and a draught of 6.7m (22feet). The ship had an engine rated at 5200hp. The maximum speed of the vessel in free water was 14.4kn and in hard, smooth ice, .[1]
The ship was ordered in 1924–1925 by the Latvian government and built at Glasgow Shipyard. The icebreaker was given the name of the spiritual leader of The First Latvian National Awakening and the most prominent member of the Young Latvians movement Krišjānis Valdemārs (1825–1891). Krišjānis Valdemārs sailed on 13 January 1926 on its first voyage from the port of Riga.The first captain of the icebreaker was Kārlis Cērpe (1875–1931). After his death Captain Fricis Veidners (1883–1942) and Pēteris Maurītis (1887–?) succeeded in command. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 the ship was nationalized. At the end of August 1941 Krišjānis Valdemārs took part in Soviet evacuation of Tallinn to Kronstadt, but struck a naval mine on 28 August and sunk. Krišjānis Valdemārs, loaded with cargo, was bombed and sunk in the Gulf of Finland by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 77, Luftwaffe.[2]
In 2011, Estonian submarine archaeologist Vello Mäss was able to identify the wreck of Krišjānis Valdemārs at a depth of about 100m (300feet) by submerged filming in the Gulf of Finland near Mohni Island near Juminda Cape.[3]