USS Triton Completes First Submerged Circumnavigation of the Globe

On May 10, 1960 USS Triton (SSRN-586) returned to the United States after completing the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe following Ferdinand Magellan's route and steaming more than 41,000 miles in just 84 days.

USS Triton (U.S.Navy)

The circumnavigation, code named Operation Sandblast, used the St. Peter and Paul Rocks, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near the Equator, as the starting and end points for the circumnavigation. During the course of the circumnavigation, Triton crossed the Equator four times while maintaining an average Speed of Advance (SOA) of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

Triton's first commanding officer was Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr., a highly decorated submarine officer who had participated in 12 combat patrols during World War II, earning 10 decorations for gallantry, including the Navy Cross. After the war, Beach served as the naval aide to the President of the United States from 1953 to 1957, and he also was the best-selling author of the non-fiction Submarine! and a novel Run Silent, Run Deep, which was made into a 1958 movie of the same name. In his last interview prior to his death in 2002, Captain Beach recalled Triton and the background to her historical mission:

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?" We talked about it a little bit, and nobody had any ideas. Finally, I got an idea. We'll do a stunt. We'll go around the world from North Pole to South Pole. That was my brainstorm. If you take a look at a map of the world, you'll see that's not a very easy way to go. So we didn't do that. But I do remember thinking of it. And I made a speech to the crew, advising them of my thinking—that we were going to put this ship on the map. Well, that died out. Suddenly ... a phone call came, asking me if I could be in Washington tomorrow.

On February 1, 1960 Captain Beach received a message from Rear Admiral Lawrence R. "Dan" Daspit (COMSUBLANT) instructing Beach to attend a top secret meeting at The Pentagon on February 4th that led to the execution of Operation Sandblast, the first submerged circumnavigation of the world.

Triton departing New London on Feb. 16, 1960 (U.S. Navy)

Triton departed New London on February 16, 1960 for what was announced as her shakedown cruise. As Triton headed for the south Atlantic, Captain Beach announced the true nature of their shakedown cruise:
"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 are 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, nonstop. And we’re going to do it entirely submerged."

Triton's Navigation Track (click to enlarge)

Triton arrived in the middle Atlantic off St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks on February 24 to commence the history-making voyage. Having remained submerged since her departure from the east coast, Triton continued on south towards Cape Horn, rounded the tip of South America, and headed west across the Pacific. After transiting the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos and crossing the Indian Ocean, she rounded the Cape of Good Hope and arrived off the St. Peter and Paul Rocks on April 10 - 60 days and 21 hours after departing the mid-ocean landmark. Only once did her sail break the surface of the sea, when she transferred a sick sailor to USS Macon (CA-132) off Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 6. She arrived back at Groton, Connecticut, on May 11, having completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the earth.

Triton's globe-girdling cruise proved invaluable to the United States. Politically, it enhanced the nation's prestige. From an operational viewpoint, the cruise demonstrated the great submerged endurance and sustained high-speed transit capabilities of the first generation of nuclear-powered submarines. Moreover, during the voyage, the submarine collected reams of oceanographic data. At the cruise's conclusion, Triton received the Presidential Unit Citation and Captain Beach received the Legion of Merit from President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

President Eisenhower presents Capt. Beach with the Legion of Merit (Life Magazine)

USS Triton was to be the lead ship of a proposed class of nuclear-powered radar picket submarines, but ended up being a one of a kind submarine. At the time of her construction, Triton was the largest submarine ever built. Her knife-like bow provided improved surfaced sea-keeping for her radar picket role. Her surface sea-keeping was further enhanced by high reserve buoyancy, provided by 22 ballast tanks, the most ever in an American submarine. She was the last American submarine to have a conning tower, as well as the last to have twin screws or a stern torpedo room. Her sail was the largest ever aboard an American submarine, measuring 70 feet (21 m) long, 24 feet (7.3 m) tall, and 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, and designed to house the large AN/SPS-26 3-D air-search radar antenna when not in use. She also had a compartment solely for crew berthing, with 96 bunks, and two separate Chief Petty Officers' (CPOs') quarters. With an overall length of 447.5 feet (136.4 m), Triton was the longest submarine ever built for the United States Navy until USS Ohio in 1979.

Following the development of carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft, Triton's long-range air search radar was no longer needed. Accordingly, the Navy's radar picket submarine program was cancelled and Triton was redesignated SSN-586. In 1962, Triton was modified to serve as the flagship for COMSUBLANT (COMmander, SUBmarine force AtLANTic). Triton operated as the flagship until a planned overhaul in 1967. But due to cutbacks in defense spending, as well as the expense of operating her twin nuclear reactors, Triton's overhaul was canceled, and the submarine - along with 60 other vessels - was slated for inactivation. On May 6, 1969, Triton departed New London under tow and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, where she was placed in the reserve fleet. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry on April 30, 1986.