MEN IN CRISIS

[Music] August 1st 1958 the submarine Nautilus commanded by William R Anderson US Navy sails under extraordinary orders the Nautilus will disappear beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean if all goes well it will mysteriously reappear 4 days later in the Atlantic on the far side of the Arctic continent if all does not go well the naous and her crew will be reported lost somewhere in the vicinity of the North Pole [Music] [Music] in January 1954 the world's first nuclear powered ship is christened the USS Nautilus this revolutionary vessel owes its life to a rebellious man Hyman rickola an unconventional Admiral who rarely wears a uniform and thrives on controversy he has triumphed over skepticism and violent opposition and created an atomic [Music] submarine said president Truman the day these propellers first bite into the water will be the most momentous day for Atomic science since that first flash of light in the New Mexico [Music] desert there is no more famous name in the lore of the sea the Nautilus in 1870 Jules Vern writes a wild tale of a wonderful submarine the [Music] Nautilus in Vern's story The Nautilus travels 20,000 fantastic Leagues Under the Sea in one of the most spectacular episodes it makes a perilous Journey beneath the polar ice if we cannot go through the ice announces Captain Nemo we will go under it a century ago such an idea was pure fiction but Vern's fantasy has struck a spark in the minds of men in 1898 a New York newspaper headlines a scheme to reach the North Pole the brainchild of a 19th century inventor outdoes the imaginings of Jules ver his steam driven submarine Will Roll Along the ocean floor on encountering the ice pack it will blast out a path with dynamite only in fiction will the Arctic be conquered in reality it Remains the world's last unexplored continent a continent with no solid earth with mountain ranges of pure ice rising out of the Polar sea Perry reaches the pole in 1909 bird flies over it in 1926 but the Artic ice cap is still a virt ually impassible barrier adventurous submariners have long nourished a wild dream that they alone might find a way across the pole beneath the arctic ice in 1931 SE Hubert Wilkins determines to reach the pole by submarine risten the Nautilus his submarine is the first to dive beneath the Arctic Ice her Explorations are short she must surface regularly to recharge batteries and replenish oxygen exhausted by combustible fuel wikins gives up submarines are too limited by their source of power 4 3 2 one we now have an accelerated by 1946 American industry begins a scientific search for ways to harness the power of a new age the power of the atom Navy Captain Heyman rickover a brilliant engineer designs A specialized nuclear reactor to power a submarine he campaigns relentlessly to sell his idea to Navy officials atomic energy he insists makes possible a submarine of unlimited [Music] capabilities after an 8-year struggle rickover's atomic submarine is a reality the USS Nautilus can dive deeper and travel faster than any submarine before she can stay submerged indefinitely now among naval officers the old dream of Jules Vern and Hubert Wilkins is revived it seems inevitable that the latest Nautilus like a predecessors should challenge the polar ice [Music] cap William R Anderson was commander of the Nautilus he recalls the beginnings of a nautic Adventure I first heard about the possibility of trying the Nautilus Under Ice before I took command of the ship when I was working in Washington training under Admiral rickover fascinated by the possibility of taking the Nautilus under the ice cap Anderson studied the Arctic and was given permission to Voyage North in August of 1957 secretly he hoped to reach the North Pole we left New London on that trip with a very unique operation order one in which we were authorized by the Navy to proceed to approximately latitude 83 North uh some 200 miles under the ice back and of course we H that we could uh stretch that word approximately by actually taking the ship all the way to 90 North all the way to the North Pole itself damaged by collision with the ice pack the Nautilus is forced to abandon her first Arctic exploration but Commander Anderson is now convinced that he can find a passage under the ice and reach the pole in Seattle in the spring of 1958 the crew prepares for a long cruise to Panama they are unaware of ultimate orders labeled top secret these Ord would launch operation Sunshine code name for a voyage under the North [Music] Pole June 8th an inspection team from Washington suddenly descends on the Nautilus rumors fly as crew members recognize the man now known as the father of the atomic submarine re Admiral Hyman Rick over early on the morning of June 9th the naus Slips Away from Pier 91 Seattle a few hours earlier Anderson had received a phone message from the Navy Department execute operation Sunshine he issues no change of orders to the crew and he fires a movement report destination [Music] Panama [Music] [Applause] Anderson will keep a secret until the Nautilus is well underway completely out of touch with the [Music] shore later Anderson will write had I the ability to see what lay ahead that the lives of all men on board would be in dire Peril I might have been less enthusiastic but at that moment I was jubilant aboard the Nautilus Kwan still happily anticipate a Tropic Cruise in their air conditioned neonlight high-fire equipped quarters Anderson's men seem anything but explorers setting out on a great Voyage of Discovery and yet as they soon learn they are about to follow in the footsteps of Perry Shackleton amonson and Richard bird all hands this is the captain speaking our destination for this trip is Portland England by way of the North Pole in the middle of June 1958 the Nautilus passes through the Beering straight and into the chukchi sea north of Alaska here heavy Drift Ice and shallow water combined to force the Nautilus to the surface at Latitude 68° and minutes the Nautilus reaches the long sought polar pack solid ice stretches from here to the [Music] pole despite the shallow water the Nautilus must dive and seek a passageway beneath a continent of ice Anderson Maneuvers cautiously 40 ft above the ocean floor and 50 ft below the [Music] ice [Music] as the submarine penetrates further under the ice pack the margin of safety grows steadily narrower she is forced down to within 20 ft of the ocean floor still the indicators show clearance decreasing finally barely 5 ft lies between the submarine sail and the ice if the Gap Narrows the 300t submarine will be wedged in the [Music] ice the final encounter with the ice where we had duck down to cruise just a few feet uh above the ocean floor and we found ourselves clearing by first about 10 ft overhead and then eight and then uh slightly more than five with the depth increasing as we went along dictated that we extricate the ship from that situation and turn around with uh such a squeeze problem we did have to turn around and of course this was a very unhappy moment uh for all of the crew and for me but we felt that uh we did have at least one thing working in our favor and that was the advancing season that we could expect conditions to improve a great deal within the next one to 3 months and that we could come back and successfully complete the trip at a later time once again the Nautilus Retreats from The Polar Ice putting into Pearl Harbor Hawaii Anderson approaches from the south to mask his true course secrecy is still Paramount the Nautilus crew of more than 100 men begins a carefully scripted charade which will last more than a month over and over they have been briefed on every detail of an imaginary Cruise near the equator even families will not suspect and operation Sunshine remains top secret Commander Anderson has flown back to the Pentagon now every phase of operation Sunshine is re-evaluated can the Nautilus get through the ice jammed Arctic Ocean despite two failures Anderson is eager to try again but he knows he must have more information on Arctic ice conditions Anderson has requested a detailed reconnaissance of the Arctic day after day Navy Patrol planes carry a mysterious officer across the ice he travels Incognito under cart blanch orders from operations 33 the [Music] Pentagon here is Lieutenant shepher Janks Navigator of the USS Nautilus no Navigator in history has yet found a way through the Arctic Ocean somewhere Anderson must find deep water Lieutenant Jen's survey has proven that the ice is receded now there may be clearance above the shallow ocean floor Anderson will sail North and look for a passage due east across the Arctic the polar Voyage from Hawaii to England is scheduled to last 3 weeks 116 men will exist in a blind world of Steel barely 28 ft wide where there is no difference between day and night no sunlight no stars where there is no escape from the endless routine in the last days of July the ice has receded from Chuck chi c the Nautilus Cruisers beyond the point where she was forced Back 2 months before but every promising passageway leads eventually to a dead end Anderson makes a fateful decision he will try the deep under sea Valley off Point Barrow [Music] Alaska [Music] [Music] no submarine has ever penetrated the valley its existence has been deduced from sounding and the theorizing of geologists but for the Nautilus it is the last possibility Anderson edges cautiously along the edge of the ice pack his progress is slow he must feel his way under huge ice flows often he is forced to detour around treacherous ice the ocean floor is virtually Uncharted they rely completely on instruments and there is always the unspoken fear that the instruments could go [Music] wrong the Nautilus is continuously sounding to the deep water of the Barrow sea Valley as they near its supposed location all sonas are man early on the morning of August 1st the seaf Flor at last begins to Fall Away below the Nautilus Anderson is sure now that he has found the Valley Moving deep under the ice pack the order is passed come left to 0 0 the Nautilus is bearing due north aimed directly for the pole 1,094 mil away very [Music] [Applause] [Music] well after 62 hours submerged the nus is one mile short of the pole Anderson addresses his crew all hands this is the captain speaking in a few moments naus will realize the goal long sought by those who have sailed the Seas the attaining of the North Pole I would like to suggest at this time that as we approach the pole we observe a brief period of Silence dedicated first to he who has guided us so truly second to all those men who have preceded us whether to Victory or to failure and third in our Earnest hopes for a world peace 7 6 5 4 4 3 2 1 Mark for the USA and the US Navy the North Pole when we crossed the pole we knew that no Bells would rain we felt no bump we knew that only our instruments would tell us that we were there 116 men are gathered at the North Pole the northernmost spot on the globe [Music] in the controlled atmosphere of the norless the temperature is constant 72° inside the submarine life is the same at the North Pole or the [Music] Equator after passing the pole the hard part of the trip was over we had uh a run of about a day and a half South all through deep water and mainly through sections that we had explored before in 1957 so the glot of the ship changed uh everyone uh felt that uh we had it made so to speak and that uh now it was from there on out just a matter of uh routine and the uh world's best ship and the world's best [Music] crew 2 days later she achieves a less dramatic but more significant objective surfacing in the open Waters of the Atlantic she completes the first transpolar voyage in history a new sea Lane is opened across the top of the [Music] world at long last she is able to communicate with the world to the chief of Naval operations Commander Anderson sends a simple message delayed for 2 days Nautilus 90° North in the Navy records The Voyage of the Nautilus is listed as a routine crew no unusual occurrences but the Nautilus has blazed an underwater Northwest Passage in an age of Russian Sputnik she restores American confidence and [Music] pride the crew is awarded the first presidential unit citation ever issued in peacetime from the president Commander Anderson receives the Legion of Merit one man is honored who is not on the historic Voyage re Admiral Hyman Rick [Music] [Applause] over Commander Anderson fits the image of the American hero but Admiral Rover seems uneasy in the [Music] spotlight the ri over it is an unfamiliar role an impatient intellectual his Crusade for a nuclear submarine had threatened his career now he is hailed by a Grateful [Music] Nation William R Anderson was given orders to carry out a mission courageous and dedicated he performed in the tradition of a great Navy Admiral he rickover fits no traditional concept of a naval officer a Visionary a non-conformist and a profet of a new Maritime age he stands [Music] alone in time other nuclear submarines will reach the pole a new sea Lane has been opened cargo carrying submarines of the future will chop 13 days off off the route from the Orient to Europe beneath the Arctic Ice The Voyage of the naist has changed many things on the map of the world at the North Pole there are three names Peri bird and Anderson today William R Anderson is a congressman from the state of Tennessee for the Nautilus itself the polar Voyage meant undying Fame now she must be complet completely overhauled already she is becoming obsolete today's nuclear subs are faster longer and sleeker leaving Nautilus with one point of Pride she was first for the US Navy the Nautilus began a new age of nuclear ships carriers Cruisers destroyers powered by atomic energy their range is virtually Limitless [Music] the [Music] [Applause] oh for