To the North Pole by Sub - in 1931?

[anon_user]

In 1931, a decommissioned US submarine, the ex-USS O-12, was leased to Lake & Dannenhower, Inc. The sub, renamed Nautilus, was fitted out for under-ice operations - though neither heaters nor insulation were provided. Hearst offered to pay for the submarine to travel to the North Pole and meet up with the Graf Zeppelin. In OTL, Nautilus only made it up to 82 degrees North, but only started from Plymouth, England on August 5, having been delayed by a storm during the journey from New York to England; could it have done better had it gotten an earlier start?

Wikipedia on the Arctic Expedition of 1931.

 

[Nik]

Badly equipped...

From the wiki info, it was a very haphazard expedition, achieving what they did by luck and grit rather than design...

Had they gone further North, earlier in season, they could well have been trapped due to damage and, uh, died in the usual way...

 

[anon_user]

True, true. Still an interesting event.

I do wonder how much earlier than OTL, if at all, a sub could've reached the Pole. Navigation equipment would've been a big challenge; the Nautilus had to use specially-designed gyrocompasses, given that above 85N ordinary compasses wouldn't work.

That would be an awkward end to the 1931 expedition - even if the sea ice were fine, crossing 85N and finding the navigation equipment doesn't work would be quite disconcerting, but would've helped with any future attempts (if they somehow made it out).

A rescue may have been possible. They had kept in radio contact, according to the article, until the radio suffered damage, so there'd be at least a rough idea of their position. Get an airship in the area and, as long as they had managed to get to the surface, the crew might've been able to be rescued.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

True, true. Still an interesting event.

I do wonder how much earlier than OTL, if at all, a sub could've reached the Pole. Navigation equipment would've been a big challenge; the Nautilus had to use specially-designed gyrocompasses, given that above 85N ordinary compasses wouldn't work.

That would be an awkward end to the 1931 expedition - even if the sea ice were fine, crossing 85N and finding the navigation equipment doesn't work would be quite disconcerting, but would've helped with any future attempts (if they somehow made it out).

A rescue may have been possible. They had kept in radio contact, according to the article, until the radio suffered damage, so there'd be at least a rough idea of their position. Get an airship in the area and, as long as they had managed to get to the surface, the crew might've been able to be rescued.

Going by the Wiki article, it's a darned good thing they didn't make it further.

Once they get under the ice cap, how the heck are they going to find a polya for surfacing - remember this is an airbreathing sub we're talking about. OK. So they find one or two or three - they get to the Pole (and how do they know they've done it?), surface, broadcast the results. Fine. How do they get home?

Given that they were so unprepared that their fresh water froze (hello, you're travelling to the North Pole, ya think it might get chilly, maybe?), I just don't see this expedition being successful.

There's a REASON the first major sub-icecap sub voyages were with nuclear powered subs.