Submerged Odyssey: The Unprecedented Journey of the USS Triton
In the advent of the nuclear era, the U.S military harnessed the atom’s unfathomable power to propel its leading-edge fleet of submarines. Among the first batch of nuclear models, one stood out: USS Triton. The only one in her class, Triton was the epitome of naval power. She would be tasked with a mission no other vessel could achieve, one the legendary sailor Ferdinand Magellan could never have even dreamed of.
Captain Edward L. Beach was at the helm when the submarine was commissioned. As he put it, “As I was reporting to the Triton, I remember saying, ‘This ship is an unusual one. We’ve got to do something special with it. What could it be?’ Suddenly … a phone call came, asking me if I could be in Washington tomorrow.” So began the seafaring adventures of USS Triton.
In the aftermath of World War II and perhaps more importantly, the onset of the Cold War, the Navy embarked on a quest to revolutionize naval warfare. They envisioned a fleet of vessels that would not have to make regular stops for fuel like conventional ships, limited only by supplies and crew endurance. And so, the Nuclear Navy was born.
At first, the Navy recognized the benefits of nuclear energy for propulsion purposes and began researching. But it didn’t stop there. For one Navy Captain, Hyman Rickover, an electrical engineer and a strong proponent of nuclear research, he saw the potential for nuclear reactors beyond propulsion and set up to develop secondary uses for nuclear energy to use nuclear reactors to produce electricity.
Rickover’s vision came to fruition with the construction of the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. In June 1952, construction began on Nautilus and she would make history in a daring feat. Nautilus completed the first fully submerged transit under the North Pole as part of Operation Sunshine. This achievement proved the potential of nuclear power and solidified the nuclear Navy’s position as a leader in naval innovation.
With the world at their fingertips, the Navy continued to push the limits of nuclear technology. Soon, the possibility of a submerged circumnavigation of the globe by a U.S Navy nuclear-powered submarine became a reality.
Captain Evan P. Aurand was a man with a vision. As President Eisenhower’s Naval Aid, he was constantly looking for ways to boost American prestige in the eyes of the world, and he had an idea so daring that it just might work. His idea was simple yet bold: a successful submerged circumnavigation of the globe by a U.S Navy nuclear-powered submarine, timed to conclude before the upcoming four-power Paris Summit in May 1960 between President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. This would be a monumental achievement and firmly establish America’s dominance in the Cold War.
Captain Aurand knew that this mission had to be given the highest priority within the Eisenhower Administration. As he once expressed, “There’s no doubt that sooner or later the USSR will put some nuclear submarines to sea. It would be a shame if we permit them to announce this to the world by virtue of some dramatic feat which we could have done ourselves. This could be Sputnik all over again, but without any excuses.”
At last, President Eisenhower gave the green light for Project Magellan, and Captain Aurand knew exactly what submarine to recommend for the monumental mission: the USS Triton.
Triton was a groundbreaking addition to the United States Navy. As the only member of her class, Triton was a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine with a unique distinction: she was the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors. At the time of her commission in 1959, she was the largest, most powerful, and most expensive submarine ever built.
In February 1960, Captain Edward L. Beach arrived at the Pentagon in civilian attire. He was to attend a top-secret high-level meeting. There, he was informed that his submarine and crew had been selected for an extraordinary shakedown cruise: a submerged circumnavigation of the world. It was decided that a fast trip around the world was necessary for geophysical, oceanographic, and habitability research for the Polaris program. It was important to have a stable platform and continuity throughout the trip. The voyage had to be made completely submerged and undetected by any forces for reasons of national interest. The mission, codenamed Operation Sandblast, would follow the track of the first circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan in the 1500s.
The men of Triton departed New London, not knowing what their true mission was. But nonetheless, bound for the South Atlantic, Triton set course to the southeast, 134 degrees true. They learned the truth the next day as Beach addressed them, “Men, I know you’ve all been waiting to learn what this cruise is about and why we’re still headed southeast. Now, at last, I can tell you that we’re going on the voyage which all submariners have dreamed of ever since they possessed the means of doing so. We have the ship, and we have the crew. We’re going around the world, non-stop, and we’re going to do it entirely submerged.”
The submarine suffered a severe leak in the main condenser circulating water pump, plus a defective electrical connection triggered a reactor warning alarm. Yet, the crew handled both incidents with no further complications. Within a few days, after traveling 3,250 nautical miles, Triton reached Saint Peter and Saint Paul rocks and made her first landfall. The site would serve as the home plate for the submarine’s round trip.
Subsequently, Triton dove and headed southwards. From there, she passed west of the Falklands and rounded Cape Horn through the Drake Passage at the tip of South America. By March 7th, Triton finally entered the Pacific Ocean. Traveling west, she passed through the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos and crossed the Indian Ocean. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, she made her way to the starting point of her journey and arrived off the Middle Atlantic rocks on April 10th, 60 days and 21 hours after her departure from the landmark. But she did not return to the U.S until a month later, having completed the first ever underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
The historic trip proved invaluable as a political demonstration of technological prowess, if not straightforward superiority. Also, operationally, the impossibly long journey under the waves was a testament to the endurance and capabilities of the first generation of nuclear-powered submarines. A successful mission also provided an unprecedented amount of oceanographic data. For their feat, the entire crew received the Presidential Unit Citation, while the skipper was bestowed with the Legion of Merit from President Eisenhower.
After her historic first deployment, Triton’s next mission took her to European waters. She would join NATO in detecting Soviet bombers flying in the Arctic. She would continue working on the Soviet threat with the Atlantic Fleet, combating the rise of Russian submarines, until she was made obsolete as a radar picket submarine by more modern airborne early warning systems. She was later converted to an attack submarine and served as the flagship for the commander of Submarine forces, U.S Atlantic Fleet, until her decommissioning in 1969 when she became the first nuclear submarine to be taken out of service.
The tale of the USS Triton is a testament to the audacity of human ambition and the relentless pursuit of technological advancement. It is a story of a ship and its crew, who dared to dream and achieve the impossible, leaving an indelible mark in the annals of naval history.
