Which was the first surface ship to reach the North Pole?

"Arktika" is a retired nuclear-powered icebreaker of the Soviet (now Russian) "Arktika" class. In service from 1975 to 2008, she was the first surface ship to reach the North Pole, a feat achieved on August 17, 1977 during an expedition dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.

Construction of the ship began in the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad on July 3, 1971. Sea trials completed successfully on December 17, 1975. In 1982, she was rechristened "Leonid Brezhnev" in honour of Leonid Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. In 1986 the name reverted back to "Arktika", according to some accounts because the ship's crew disliked the new name and refused to respond to radio messages unless the ship was referred to as "Arktika". Within a week of the strike, the name was changed back.

Originally designed for 100,000 hours of reactor life, Arktika's service life was prolonged another 50,000 hours in 2000, and another 25,000 hours after that, adding eight years to a 25-year planned service life. The life extension was accomplished by means of replacing critical equipment to allow the safe and continued operation of the nuclear plant. After 33 years of reliable icebreaking the "Arktika" was retired in October 2008.