USS Nautilus Reaches North Pole Underwater

Context

During the 1950s, the United States Navy pursued nuclear propulsion to overcome the limitations of diesel-electric submarines, which required frequent surfacing for air and fuel. Under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover, the program produced the USS Nautilus, whose keel was laid in 1952 and which was commissioned in 1954. The vessel’s atomic reactor allowed it to remain submerged for extended periods and travel at sustained high speeds without reliance on atmospheric oxygen.

What Happened

On July 23, 1958, the Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with 116 men aboard—including Commander William R. Anderson, officers, crew, and four civilian scientists—for the classified Operation Sunshine. The submarine proceeded north through the Bering Strait, briefly raising its periscope near the Diomede Islands before submerging at Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 1. It traveled roughly 500 feet beneath the polar ice cap, which ranged from 10 to 50 feet thick, maintaining a steady course toward 90 degrees north.

Aftermath

At 11:15 p.m. EDT on August 3, Anderson informed the crew that the vessel had reached the North Pole. The Nautilus continued submerged for another 96 hours before surfacing in the Greenland Sea on August 5 and arriving at Iceland two days later. President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Anderson the Legion of Merit, and the crew received the Presidential Unit Citation for the achievement.

Legacy

The successful under-ice crossing proved that nuclear submarines could operate freely beneath the Arctic, opening potential strategic routes between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and reshaping naval planning during the Cold War. The feat influenced subsequent polar expeditions and submarine design worldwide; the Nautilus itself was decommissioned in 1980 and is preserved as a National Historic Landmark at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut.