November-class submarine Komsomol" was first underway under nuclear power on 4 July 1958 and became also the first Soviet submarine to reach the North Pole in July 1962, 4 years after the USS "Nautilus". Project 627 had much better performance specifications (for example, submerged speed and depth) than the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine USS "Nautilus". The first commander of "K-3" was Captain 1st Rank L.G. Osipenko (future admiral and Hero of the Soviet Union). All other Novembers except "K-3" belonged to modified project – project 627A. The main visual differences of project 627A were a bow sonar dome in the keel
Old Pulteney Row To The Pole into the bay by storms. At this point the boat's unique design as a sledge-boat enabled them to haul the boat from the water and manually pull it across the ice on the final 2–3 miles to the Pole. This boat-hauling exercise took the crew 10 hours to complete. They arrived at the Pole position on 26 August 2011. Jock Wishart announced the success saying "There is now a row boat at the '96 Mag. North Pole". On BBC Radio 4's Today programme as "an incredible journey that will go down in the history books. It's a true global first