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100 times to the North Pole

The Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet is based in Murmansk. Photo: Thomas Nilsen.

When the Russian nuclear-powered «50 Years of Victory» reached the North Pole late on Tuesday evening, it was the one hundredth time a surface vessel visited the top of the world.

Location

Off all the 100 trips to the North Pole, only 15 have been accomplished by vessels from another country than Russia – Sweden 8 times, U.S.A 3 times, Germany 3 times and Canada once.

The first surface vessel to reach the pole was the nuclear icebreaker “Arktika” – this event took place on August 17 1977. The Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker “Yamal” is the most frequent visitor to the North Pole with a total of 46 trips.

Although several of the nuclear icebreaker fleet’s captains have been to the North Pole up to twenty times, the person who has been to the North Pole most times is Irina Mikhaylova, who has worked as waitress during 65 journeys to the top of the world, Atomflot’s web site reads.

The first submarine to reach the geographic North Pole was the USS Nautilus, which became the first watercraft to reach the pole on August 3 1958, according to Wikipedia.