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N0KFQ > TODAY 03.08.14 16:58l 72 Lines 3468 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32603_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 3
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IQ5KG<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 140803/1600Z 32603@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Aug 3, 1958:
Nautilus travels under North Pole
On August 3, 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus
accomplishes the first undersea voyage to the geographic North
Pole. The world's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dived at
Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the
Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world. It then steamed on
to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific
to the Atlantic and Europe.
The USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy
Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who
joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in
charge of the navy's nuclear-propulsion program and began work on
an atomic submarine. Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors,
Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world's first
nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. In 1952, the Nautilus'
keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21,
1954, first lady Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne
across its bow as it was launched into the Thames River at
Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on September 30, 1954, it first
ran under nuclear power on the morning of January 17, 1955.
Much larger than the diesel-electric submarines that preceded it,
the Nautilus stretched 319 feet and displaced 3,180 tons. It
could remain submerged for almost unlimited periods because its
atomic engine needed no air and only a very small quantity of
nuclear fuel. The uranium-powered nuclear reactor produced steam
that drove propulsion turbines, allowing the Nautilus to travel
underwater at speeds in excess of 20 knots.
In its early years of service, the USS Nautilus broke numerous
submarine travel records and on July 23, 1958, departed Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, on "Operation Northwest Passage"--the first
crossing of the North Pole by submarine. There were 116 men
aboard for this historic voyage, including Commander William R.
Anderson, 111 officers and crew, and four civilian scientists.
The Nautilus steamed north through the Bering Strait and did not
surface until it reached Point Barrow, Alaska, in the Beaufort
Sea, though it did send its periscope up once off the Diomedes
Islands, between Alaska and Siberia, to check for radar bearings.
On August 1, the submarine left the north coast of Alaska and
dove under the Arctic ice cap.
The submarine traveled at a depth of about 500 feet, and the ice
cap above varied in thickness from 10 to 50 feet, with the
midnight sun of the Arctic shining in varying degrees through the
blue ice. At 11:15 p.m. EDT on August 3, 1958, Commander Anderson
announced to his crew: "For the world, our country, and the
Navy--the North Pole." The Nautilus passed under the geographic
North Pole without pausing. The submarine next surfaced in the
Greenland Sea between Spitzbergen and Greenland on August 5. Two
days later, it ended its historic journey at Iceland. For the
command during the historic journey, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower decorated Anderson with the Legion of Merit.
After a career spanning 25 years and almost 500,000 miles
steamed, the Nautilus was decommissioned on March 3, 1980.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982, the world's
first nuclear submarine went on exhibit in 1986 as the Historic
Ship Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton,
Connecticut.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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