The first undersea voyage to the North Pole
🚢 USS Nautilus: First Submarine to Complete Undersea Voyage to North Pole
🗓️ Date of Voyage Completion: August 3, 1958
🗞️ Source: The Hindu, Updated – August 03, 2025 | 12:26 PM IST
🔹 Why in News?
- August 3, 2025 marks the 67th anniversary of the first undersea voyage to the North Pole completed by USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine.
- The mission, Operation Sunshine, made history by navigating beneath the Arctic ice cap and surfacing in the Greenland Sea.
🔹 About USS Nautilus
- Commissioned: September 30, 1954
- First Nuclear Run: January 17, 1955
- Length: ~320 feet; Displacement: 3,000+ tons
- Power Source: Pressurized water reactor (PWR) using slightly enriched uranium
- Built by: General Dynamics (Electric Boat Division), Reactor by Westinghouse
- Engineered by: Capt. Hyman G. Rickover (Father of the Nuclear Navy)
🔹 Historic Arctic Voyage (1958)
- Start: July 23, 1958 – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
- Passed North Coast of Alaska: August 1
- Reached North Pole: August 3, 11:15 PM EDT
- Surface: August 5 – Greenland Sea
- End: August 7 – Iceland
- Depth Navigated: ~500 feet under ice caps (10–50 ft thick)
- Crew: 116 (Commander William R. Anderson, 111 officers/crew, 4 scientists)
🔹 Significance
- First vessel in history to reach North Pole underwater
- Revolutionized naval operations with unlimited submerged endurance
- Proved nuclear propulsion viability for long-range strategic missions
- Laid foundation for modern nuclear submarines and civilian PWR reactors
🔹 Scientific and Strategic Impact
- Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) model is still used today in civilian nuclear power plants.
- Marked shift in submarine warfare: stealth, endurance, and strategic deterrence.
- Accelerated Cold War-era technological competition and Arctic geopolitical interest.