History of submarines few years before the US, and paralleled subsequent US development in this area. In the 1950s, nuclear power partially replaced diesel-electric propulsion. The sailing of the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USN ""Nautilus"" in 1955 was soon followed by similar British, French and Russian boats. Equipment was also developed to extract oxygen from sea water. These two innovations, together with inertial navigation systems, gave submarines the ability to remain submerged for weeks or months, and enabled previously impossible voyages such as the crossing of the North Pole beneath the Arctic ice cap by the USS "Nautilus" in 1958. Most of the
North Pole-2 USSR. In particular, the station investigated the possibility of creation such a base on floating ice with the support of cargo planes. North Pole-2 North Pole-2 () was the Soviet manned drifting station. It was established on April 2, 1950 and drifted for about a year between the Bering Strait and the North Pole. It was closed on April 11, 1951, after the piece of ice it was based on broke into two. The commander of the station was Mikhail Somov, who was made the Hero of the Soviet Union for his role in the expedition. North Pole-2 became the