The submarine and the Arctic Ocean

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Lyon, Waldo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1963
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Fridtjof; Nautilus; Pearl Harbour; Fridtjof Nansen; Polar Record; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400055959; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400055959

Seventy years ago Fridtjof Nansen and thirteen companions drifted across the Arctic Ocean in the specially designed ship, Fram . The drift took three years because the sea ice cover governs movements of a surface ship, allowing a ship's commanding officer only an occasional freedom of choice of direction in which to move his ship. In contrast, during August 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus , under the command of Captain W. R. Anderson, crossed the Arctic Ocean in ninety-six hours, using the open sea that lies beneath the ice. In further demonstration of the capability of submarines to sail the Arctic Ocean, the USS Skate departed from New London, Connecticut, and the USS Seadragon from Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, proceeded to the Arctic Ocean, and on 31 July 1962 met each other at a prearranged point and time underneath the sea ice.