DETAILS OF TRIP

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

DETAILS OF TRIP

Account Given By Commander

(Rec. 9 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 9.

President Eisenhower today personally decorated the captain of the Nautilus, Commander W. R. Anderson, who was flown to Washington after being taken off the Nautilus near Iceland. In a special ceremony at the White House the President also conferred a presidential unit citation on the crew of the Nautilus. The citation accompanying the Legion of Merit which President Eisenhower pinned on Commander Anderson said:—“Under his intrepid leadership. Nautilus pioneered a submerged sea lane between the eastern and western hemispheres. This points the way for further exploration and possible use of this route by nuclear powered, cargo submarines as a new commercial seaway between the major oceans of the world.” The Nautilus sailed on July 22 from Pearl Harbour. It. completed its mission on Tuesday.

Commander Anderson told reporters that the submarine passed under the ice at the North Pole last, Monday. “We didn’t stop there: we kept going.” he said. “A trip across the North Pole gives no opportunity to observe anything outside the ship.” Commander Anderson said. “There are no stars. Navigation is a very formidable part of what up to now has been a very formidable problem. “Crossing underneath the North Pole it is possible for a ship to be so confused that it might actu ally find itself going round and round in a slow circle thinking it was going in a straight line.” “Longitude Roulette” The crew of the Nautilus coined a phrase for this hazard—“longitude roulette.” Commander Anderson said that until now very few soundings had ever been taken of the Arctic Basin “We had no definite assurance that the trip could be made,” he said. “We had no definite assurance that there was not a range of underwater mountains which would come up to the point where they would almost meet the ice " H c explained that a preliminary voyage was undertaken by the Nautilus last September with a maxin um penetration to within 180 miles of the Pole. As to the depth and speed of the Nautilus through the Arctic Basin, Commander Anderson would say only that “we were cruising below 400 feet, at a speed over 20 knots.” In addition to observing ice overhead through the periscope, Commander Anderson said they also had a television camera pointed directly upward and were able to observe what was going on above on the closed TV circuit They saw some holes in the ice “Knowing what we know now

we would make the crossing in a much more relaxed fashion,” he said. “We would not hesitate to change course. However, we were anxious on this trip to check the possibility of utilising this route as a fast commercial route ”