<P> In 1941, the United States started building the Wind class . Research in Scandinavia and the Soviet Union led to a design that had a very strongly built short and wide hull, with a cut away forefoot and a rounded bottom . Powerful diesel - electric machinery drove two stern and one auxiliary bow propeller . These features would become the standard for postwar icebreakers until the 1980s . </P> <P> In Canada, diesel - electric icebreakers started to be built in 1952, first with HMCS Labrador (was transferred later to the Canadian Coast Guard), using the USCG Wind design but without the bow propeller . Then in 1960, the next step in the Canadian development of large icebreakers came when the CCGS John A. Macdonald was completed at Lauzon, Que . A considerably bigger and more powerful ship than Labrador, John A. Macdonald was an ocean - going icebreaker able to meet the most rigorous polar conditions . Her diesel - electric machinery of 15,000 horsepower was arranged in three units transmitting power equally to each of three shafts . </P> <P> Canada's largest and most powerful icebreaker, the 120 - metre (390 ft) CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent, was delivered in 1969 . Her original 3 steam turbine / 9 generator / 3 electric motor system produces 27,000 * shaft horsepower . A multi-year mid-life refit project (1987--1993) saw the ship get a new bow, and a new propulsion system . The new power plant consists of 5 diesels / 3 generators / 3 electric motors giving about the same SHP . On 22 August 1994 Louis S. St - Laurent and USCGC Polar Sea became the first North American surface vessels to reach the North Pole . The vessel was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2000 however a refit extended the decommissioning date to 2017 . </P> <P> Russia currently operates all existing and functioning nuclear - powered icebreakers . The first one, NS Lenin, was launched in 1957 and entered operation in 1959, before being officially decommissioned in 1989 . It was both the world's first nuclear - powered surface ship and the first nuclear - powered civilian vessel . </P>

True or false. you can ride an icebreaker to the north pole