SUBMARINE’S FEAT

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28661, 11 August 1958, Page 9

SUBMARINE’S FEAT

World Praise For Nautilus Voyage (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 10. The feat of the atomic submarine Nautilus in completing a submerged passage beneath the North Pole was today hailed as equal to the fabled search for the North-west Passage. „ , lh '. s , praiE « was given by Admiral Arleigh Burke, United States Chief of Naval Operations, who desci ibed the trip as a “pioneering type” voyage which required tremendous planning and the utmost secrecy. He said the submarine had maintained radio silence from the time it left Hawaii until the voyage was completed. “For such a trip you must have a complete study of the ice, its thickness, water depth, current and good navigation equipment,” he said. “The hardest thing to do in such an operation is to keep your mouth shut until the operation is over. “Literally hundreds of people must know about it. Once in a while we do it. You shouldn’t try boasting if you can avoid it. It’s better to do it quietly, do the job nicely and then report what has been done.”

The United States Navy had considered the possibility of boring a hole in the Polar ice cap to use in launching missiles from a submarine, Admiral Burke said.

Asked whether the Navy was interested in such a project, he said it had recognised that possibility, but the problem had not been entirely solved. A Polar cap hole could have many uses, including the launching of missiles from submarines and use for gathering scientific information.

At the same time, the launching of a missile from a submarine in the Polar region might be done just as well from some area other than under the ice cap.

Making a hole in the ice cap was a project which presented difficult technical problems, but it was a very important one. “It’s not easily done,” he said.

“The Polar ice cap is of fairly uniform thickness —about 14 to 15 feet. If you want to bore a hole from a submarine, you’ve got to put your submarine up next to the ice somehow and bore from a pressure hull.” He explained the project would be difficult because water would tend to flow into the hole as it was bored, because most of the ice was under water.