Nuclear-powered icebreaker
On 17 August 1977, NS "Arktika" ("Arctic") became the first surface ship ever to reach the North Pole. "Arktika" was withdrawn from service in 2008 after clocking up 175,000 hours of reactor operation time and covering more than 1 million nautical miles. Rather than be scrapped, there are calls for her to be converted to a museum ship, like her predecessor "Lenin".
USS Glacier (AGB-4)
USS "Glacier" (AGB-4) (later USCGC "Glacier" (WAG/WAGB-4)) was a U.S. Navy, then U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth Operation Deep Freeze expeditions. "Glacier" was first icebreaker to make her way through the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, and most of the topography in the area is named for her crewmembers. When built, "Glacier" had the largest capacity single armature DC motors ever installed on a ship. "Glacier" was capable of breaking ice up to thick, and of continuous breaking of thick ice at .