American Valor Quarterly Issue 4 - Autumn 2008 | Page 15

As I toured the ship, someone mentioned the possible reaction
of the scientific personnel working on one of the ice islands
overhead if we suddenly zoomed underneath at close to twenty
knots. It was an interesting thing to ponder.
I ran into Chief Hospitalman John Aberle with the latest
atmosphere readings. Our air revitalization components were
working efficiently enough to maintain us in the recommended
atmospheric conditions. Our air was likely as clean or cleaner
than that at the surface.
Other men kept a sharp eye on the ice, charting everyone one of
the infrequent leads and polynyas
they saw, just in case we needed to
make a sudden dash for the surface.
In an emergency we might have to
spin around and attempt to thread
one of those needles in a hurry. We
could have surfaced in one of them
and reported our position, but I did
not want to take the time or the risk
unless we had to.

The day went by with no problems. No faults to rectify, no
casualties to overcome. The ice was continually monitored, and it
showed almost complete coverage, broken only by occasional
cracks between the giant floes. Even with the thick canopy over
us, there was still some light filtering through. When I looked
through the periscopes, I could see something surprising:
phosphorescent streaks in the water. This was something we saw
in tropical waters all the time, but I was amazed to see the
phenomenon here. It was so cold that the outside of some of
our engine-room seawater pipes was caked with thick layers of
rime ice.
During the night we passed
underneath some prime surfacing
opportunities, but we left them
behind after noting them on our
charts. Time was a factor. We still
did not know if Skate was ahead
of us, coming our way. And
everyone in Washington who knew
about Operation Sunshine would
assume now that we were under the
ice, plying toward the Pole. They
most wanted to hear from us when
we had successfully accomplished
our mission, not necessarily when
we were still hours away.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 15

John Krawczyk

A lot of interest had developed on
the contest to design a cachet or
postal mark for envelopes that were
to be mailed at the North Pole. I
had reasoned that we could assume
and later get confirmation of
We made plans to place our
authority to act as an official post
auxiliary gyrocompass in a
office at the North Pole, which
directional g yro mode, which
meant that the stamps on the
meant that instead of seeking north,
envelopes could be canceled with
the instrument would tend to seek
the ship’s name and date and our
the line that we were following
very interesting location at the time
already. That line was on a great
of their mailing. There were two
circle course up the Western
superb entries in the competition.
Hemisphere, across the North Pole,
One was done by Bill McNally, a
and then due south again but then
The North Pole’s most recognizable resident - who bears a
very talented artist, and John Kurrus,
we would be in the Eastern
remarkable resemblance to Nautilus crewman Bill McNeely,
who was almost as good a cachet
Hemisphere. If our master
welcomes the submarine as it approaches his
designer as he was a periscope
gyrocompass lost its north-seeking
neighborhood.
welder. The other entry was
ability, as we fully expected it to do
developed by John Krawczyk and was a bit more adaptable to as we drew nearer the northernmost point on the planet, then we
the face of an envelope. I thought both were worthy of winning would shift to the auxiliary compass and have something by which
the seventy-two hours of liberty in England. I told the judging to we could reliably steer in the darkness below the ice pack.
award all three men the prize.
We had two other navigational aids that would provide further
2000: Passed the “Ice Pole.”
checks. Our North American inertial navigator and the Sperry
Gyrosyn, which was also in gyro mode, would let us know if we
At 83.5 degrees north, we passed abeam the “Ice Pole” or “Pole veered off our intended heading. We were lucky that Tom Curtis
of Inaccessibility.” It is so named because this is the geographical and George Bristow were traveling with us, continually monitoring
center of the Arctic ice pack, the most remote point in the Arctic the N6A inertial navigation system better. We still made extremely
Ocean. Someone mentioned that “Pole of Inaccessibility” was slow course and depth changes in order to ensure that all the
no longer such an apt name, thanks to a nuclear submarine named gyrocompasses remained properly oriented.
Nautilus.
Continued on page 17