60 Years Ago, a Submerged Submarine Circled the Globe for the First Time
60 Years Ago, a Submerged Submarine Circled the Globe for the First Time (2020)
In 1960, the nuclear-powered USS Triton completed Operation Sandblast, becoming the first submarine to circumnavigate the globe entirely underwater. This historic mission proved that nuclear energy allowed submarines to operate indefinitely submerged, shifting naval strategy from surface cruising to deep-water stealth. The vessel traveled over 26,000 nautical miles, demonstrating a new era of naval capability.
One surprising fact about submarines is that for decades they spent more time on the surface of the ocean than underneath.
- comrade1234
My dad was based on a submarine when he was in the navy. He didn't talk much about it but maybe because it was just kind of boring. They would go to the North Pole/icecap and just sit under it for three months.
- ludicrousdispla
My uncle was on that voyage, serving as an enlisted mechanic.
The Triton's sail is currently at the USS Triton Sail Park in Richland, WA which is just south of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
https://www.nps.gov/places/000/uss-triton-sail-park.htm
The blue cranes in the background are occasionally used to pick up decomissioned submarine reactors from barges on the Columbia River.
- sandworm101
While a feet of engineering, purists point out this was not fully submerged. The sub returned to the surface regularly for navigation, poking up its periscopes for star fixes and photographs. The ability to navigate the world ocean totally free of the surface, perhaps spending months under ice, had not yet happened.
- ggm
I can't find any of them now but there was a satirical series of posts on (I suspect usenet before) reddit about life on-board a nuclear submarine as an ordinary sailor.
That kind of humour often encodes realities of lived experience. Life inside a tube, sharing bunkbeds, sleeping next to machinery, toilets which explode, boredom and terror.
- rramadass
Nuclear Submarines are an outstanding marvel of technology and the men serving on them are the most trained and psychologically conditioned of all people. From a philosophical/psychological/physiological pov i think of them as sharing a lot of the characteristics of hardcore monks/yogis. Both must have absolute self-control at all times and follow a strict unbending discipline.
The following are some good resources;
Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War - https://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/index.html An online exhibition from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Lots of cool pictures.
How Nuclear-Powered Submarines Actually Work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTCNwRvUcuo An in-depth interview with David Marquet, a former US Navy submarine commander. Includes short but great clips of the insides of a submarine.
Life On A Submarine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZbJYfyIoeo A short documentary on the British Navy submarines.
Life on board a British nuclear submarine - https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/aug/21/life-on-board-nuc... A nice article from a reporter who went through the experience.
Submarine Insider on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Submarineinsider