The Second Soviet Antarctic Expedition was led by Aleksei Treshnikov

Aleksei Treshnikov

Alexey Fyodorovich Tryoshnikov was a Soviet polar explorer and leader of the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition and the 13th Soviet Antarctic Expedition.He was involved in defending the Northern Sea Route during World War II and participated in the...

 on the continent; the marine expedition on the "Ob" was led by I. V. Maksimov. The "Ob" left Kaliningrad on 7 November, 1956.

Three ships were used to transport the expedition, all diesel-electric

Diesel-electric

Diesel-electric transmission or diesel-electric powertrain is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion.A diesel-electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors...

. The two main ships were as for the first expedition: RV Ob (flagship; captain I. A. Man) and RV "Lena" (captain A. I. Vetrov). The third ship was Kooperatsiya (captain A. S. Yantselevich), used mainly as a transport vessel.

The tasks of the expedition were:

1. Relief of the first expedition
2. Full scale scientific work for the International Geophysical Year
   International Geophysical Year
   The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...
   
   (IGY)
3. Organisation of two IGY scientific stations near the south geomagnetic pole and pole of relative inaccessibility
4. An inland tractor-sledge traverse for glaciology
5. Oceanography