Opening the Arctic
11 AUGUST 1958
OPENING THE ARCTIC
The 1950s saw the United States embroiled in a “Cold War” to halt the spread of Soviet Communism. Indeed, by the late 50s the Soviets, once thought to be technologically backward, appeared to have a leg up on the US. They had shocked the West with the explosion of their first atomic bomb on 29 August 1949, as they did with their launch of the first successful earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik, on 4 October 1957. American planners genuinely worried that the Soviet Union would eclipse our capabilities. Defense in this day hinged on atomic weapons that by the 1950s could be delivered by ballistic missiles deployed on stealthy nuclear-powered submarines–with one shortfall. The 1500-mile range of the Polaris missile then under development would not reach deep within the Soviet Union unless our submarines operated dangerously close to the Soviet coast. Attention focused immediately on the Arctic Ocean.
In July of 1958, USS NAUTILUS (SSN-571) made the first-ever sustained sortie under the Arctic ice cap, culminating on 3 August with her arrival under the ice at the magnetic North Pole. Meanwhile on 30 July, USS SKATE (SSN-578), too, penetrated the Arctic. She cruised for ten days under the ice, traveling some 2400 miles and surfacing eight times in polynyas (open water breaks in the ice). In conjunction with Project “Ice Skate” she cooperated in underwater homing exercises with two Air Force drift stations near the Pole. Then in the early hours of this day, SKATE became the second naval vessel to reach the North Pole.
NAUTILUS had been content simply to reach the Pole, but CDR James F. Calvert had a further goal to accomplish. Technology of that day still required submarines to surface to conduct most of their operations; thus, SKATE began searching for a break in the ice. Within a few hours a polynya was located, and Calvert carefully positioned his sub under the opening. All engines stopped. Water was slowly pumped from the ballast tanks. But as the sub inched upward, the current carried her, and at 0647 her stern nudged against the underside of the ice. Her sail had already broken the surface and Calvert steadied the boat here as Executive Officer LCDR John Nicholson sent this message:
REACHED GEOGRAPHIC NORTH POLE AUGUST ELEVENTH. NOW IN POLYNYA ABOUT FORTY MILES FROM POLE. ALL WELL.
The message electrified our Naval command. Our nation’s strategic defense was assured with SKATE’s achievement of a successful surfacing near the Pole. And the entire Arctic Ocean was opened for operations by our Navy!
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 18 AUG 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, p. 524.
Hewlett, Richard G. and Francis Duncan. Nuclear Navy 1946-1962. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1974, pp. 370-71.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, pp. 209, 212.
Williams, Marion D. Submarines under the Ice: The U.S. Navy’s Polar Operations. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1998, pp. 134-38.
