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 "Arktika" was withdrawn from service in 2008 after clocking up 175,000 hours of reactor operation time and covering more than 1 million nautical miles.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".
Vitus Bering (icebreaker)
"Vitus Bering" is long overall. Her hull has a moulded breadth of and depth of to upper deck. When loaded to a draught of , the deadweight tonnage of the ship is 4,158 tons. The four Wärtsilä diesel generating sets — two twelve-cylinder 12V32 and two six-cylinder 6L32 engines — have a combined output of and provide power for all shipboard consumers, including two 6.5 MW ABB Azipod VI1600 propulsion units. A double acting ship, "Vitus Bering" is designed to be able to break ice both ahead and astern. She is capable of operating in ice up to thick and maintain a speed of in level ice with a thickness of . Her ice class, assigned by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, is "Icebreaker6".