The shipyard was founded in 1856 by the St. Petersburg merchant M. Carr and the Scotsman M. L. MacPherson. It subsequently became the Carr and MacPherson yard. In 1864 it built two monitors of the Uragan class. In 1874 the shipyard was sold to Prince Ochtomski.
In 1934 the shipyard started work on the three prototypes for the S-class submarine, based on a German design produced by the Dutch company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw. The Soviets renamed the shipyard Numbered Zavod 189 'im. Sergo Ordzhonikidze' on 30 December 1936.
The nuclear-powered ship, designed to carve a safe path through ice-covered waters, is the fourth of a new class being built at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg.