Product Description
Synopsis
This title tells about charting the Siberian continental shelf during the height of the Cold War.This book tells the story of the brave officers and crew of the nuclear submarine USS Queenfish (SSN-651), who made the first survey of the remote and important Arctic Ocean region. The unpredictability of floating sea ice, shallow waters, and possible Soviet discovery, all play a dramatic part in this fascinating 1970 voyage.Covering 3,100 miles over a period of some 20 days at a laborious average speed of 6.5 knots, the attack submarine threaded its way through underwater canyons of ice and rolling seafloor, at one point becoming lodged in an "ice garage." Only cool thinking and skillful maneuvering of the nearly 5,000-ton vessel dislodged it. The second phase of the journey began 240 nautical miles beyond the North Pole with a detailed survey of the Siberian shelf, working back to the Bering Strait through the Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas.The skipper of the Queenfish had been trained and selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover and, inspired by this polar experience, McLaren became one of the world's foremost Arctic scientists, studying first at Cambridge University, and obtaining his doctorate in polar studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
