(WHTM) – It’s called Operation Sunshine.
On July 23, 1958, the world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, leaves Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and sails north. On board are Commander William R. Anderson, 111 officers and crew, and four civilian scientists. His top secret mission goes to the North Pole and beyond.
Due to its nuclear power plant, Nautilus does not need to surface to recharge batteries, like diesel-electric submarines from WWII and before. They will be able to travel all the way under the submerged Arctic ice cap.
But first, they have to get under the ice. It is in fact the Nautilus second test of the crew. An earlier attempt in June had to be cleaned up when they discovered the pack ice near the Bering Sea was much thicker than expected. After a painful incident where they have to squeeze under a huge iceberg with only five feet to lose, they head south to Hawaii and wait for the ice to clear.
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Cdr. William Anderson of the atomic submarine USS Nautilus in his suite at the Chatham Hotel in New York on August 26, 1958 (AP Photo / John Rooney) -
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In this photo provided by the US Navy, the USS Nautilus makes its way to the Arctic via the shallow Chukchi Sea as the deck officer inspects it, August 1958 (AP Photo / US Navy) -
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In this photo provided by the US Navy, Cdr. William R. Anderson of the USS Nautilus, above right, on deck during a period of low visibility, searches for a place deep enough to submerge safely under the ice to pass under the North Pole, August 1958. (AP Photo / US Marine) -
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In this photo provided by the US Navy, Lieutenant Commander FM Adams, US Navy executive officer of the Nautilus, Commander WR Anderson, commander, and Dr. Waldo K. Lyon, senior scientist on board, watch from the foot of the grand control room staircase as the USS Nautilus submerged off Point Barrow, Alaska, to begin its transpolar voyage under the ice on August 8, 1958 (AP Photo / US Navy) -
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In this photo provided by the US Navy, the watch crew aboard the USS Nautilus closely monitor the controls aboard the USS Nautilus in the control room as the ship passes under the ice cap, the August 3, 1958. Exact course and depth are controlled very precisely. (AP Photo / US Navy) -
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Dockers in Portland, England wave their hand to greet the USS Nautilus as the atomic-powered submarine completed its epic voyage under the North Pole ice cap on August 12, 1958. The Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii on July 23, submerging to navigate under the Arctic. Some of the submarine’s crew are on the deck as the submarine sinks into its bunk. (AP Photo) -
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The US Navy nuclear submarine USS Nautilus returns home to Portland, Dorset on August 18, 1958 (AP Photo) -
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The USS Nautilus is pictured after passing under the Manhattan Bridge in New York, en route to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, August 25, 1958 (AP Photo / Leslie Priest) -
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The US Navy Nautilus atomic submarine approaches the battery at the lower tip of Manhattan Island on August 25, 1958 as it begins its maritime march on the Hudson River, left, during its welcome to New York. To the right is the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River. (AP Photo / stf -
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Water pumps spray water to welcome the US Navy nuclear submarine USS Nautilus as it passes the New York skyline on August 25, 1958 (AP Photo / John Rooney ) -
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Rear Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, a pioneer in the development of atomic submarines, aboard the nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus from a tug in New York Harbor, August 25, 1958. Rickover was the personal representative of the President Eisenhower for ceremonies welcoming history- making underwater craft. (AP Photo) -
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Rear Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of nuclear powered submarines, boards USS Nautilus from Navy tug 534 in the Narrows below Brooklyn, New York, August 25, 1958 Cdr. William Anderson, head left, waits to greet the admiral aboard the US Navy’s first nuclear submarine. Anderson is the skipper of the Nautilus. Saluting to center left is Lieutenant Donald P. Hall, Nautilus Artillery Officer. The craft returned from a four-month trip earlier. (Photo AP / Pool) -
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The crew of the nuclear-powered USS Nautilus ascends Lower Broadway in Manhattan on August 27, 1958, as a large crowd watched the cavalcade conduct an official welcome at City Hall by Mayor Robert Wagner. (AP Photo) -
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Actress-singer Lena Horne tries on a white hat belonging to a crew member of the USS Nautilus at the entrance to the stage of the Imperial Theater where Horne appears in the musical “Jamaica” in New York on August 25, 1958. Third from left, his co-star Ricardo Montalban. The crew of the Nautilus, which arrived in New York aboard its nuclear powered submarine, are, from left, Norman A. Vitale, holding fan, Engineman First Class from Wellesley, MA; Terrence R. Provost, Radioman Second Class from Chicopee, Ma .; Boyd W. Cohenour, Second Class Engineer from Burlington, Iowa; Thomas J. Deane, commissioner second class from Quincy, Ma .; and Raymond G. Kazebee, first class electrician in Harmonsburg, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo) -
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The Submarine Force Library and Museum, where the Nautilus is on display. The two metal rings compare the size of the Navy’s first submarine, the USS Holland, with the USS Ohio. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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USS Nautilus docked. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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USS Nautilus. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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The torpedo room. A large part of the exhibition areas are glazed. The staircase has been added so that visitors can more easily enter the submarine. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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The dining room. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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For the trip under the ice cap, the Nautilus was equipped with breathing masks, in case of fire or smoke. This later became standard equipment on all submarines. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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Visitors are given chopsticks to listen to the explanations of the different parts of the submarine. Photo taken in 2004 by the author. -
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This other Nautilus was also on display. We never knew how or why he got there. Photo taken in 2004 by the author.
Upon their return to the region in late July, the pack ice retreated north. On August 1, they dive near Point Barrow, Alaska, and head for the Pole.
Navigating a ship in the Arctic presents unique challenges. The needles of magnetic compasses begin to sway erratically as they approach the magnetic North Pole, and gyrocompasses, which find true north using the Earth’s rotation, can lose their lock and “tumble.” because the speed of the Earth’s rotation changes closer to the poles.
But the Nautilus has a new device, an inertial navigation system. Based on steering instruments developed for rockets, it combines a number of inputs on ship speed, course changes, and external conditions to plot a ship’s position. It’s the old concept of “esteem” taken to a new level.
At 11:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time (11:35 pm) on August 3, 1958, Captain Anderson announced to his crew: “For the United States and the United States Navy, the North Pole.” the Nautilus became the first ship to reach the Pole, whether on the surface or underwater.
On August 5, the submarine surfaced in the Greenland Sea, between Spitsbergen and Greenland. They establish radio contact and Anderson transmits a coded message: NAUTILUS 90 NORTH. (90 degrees north latitude being the location of the pole.) Two days later, the trip ends when Nautilus docks in Iceland. She has traveled 1,830 miles underwater, and her science crew’s sonar measurements have greatly expanded humanity’s knowledge of the Arctic Ocean, including the sea depth at the Pole (13,410 feet).
It has also proven that traveling from coast to coast through the Arctic is doable. In the future, this would become almost routine, at least for subs.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower decorates Anderson with the Legion of Merit. Its crew members receive the first Presidential Unit Citation ever awarded in peacetime.
the Nautilus continued to serve for over 25 years, covering nearly 500,000 miles, before being decommissioned on March 3, 1980. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982, and in 1986 it was on display at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut .
The slideshow contains photos taken by the Navy and The Associated Press in 1958 and photos taken at the Submarine Museum in 2004 by the author.
The US Navy has released a short film about the trip, narrated by Edward R. Murrow. To view, click here.