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Unknown Waters

Unknown Waters

A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651)

by Alfred Scott McLaren

Foreword by William R. Anderson

268 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 x 1.00 in, 58 B&W figures - 12 maps

Paperback
9780817359775
Published: November 2019

$19.95

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eBook
9780817380069
Published: May 2009

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Description
Contents
Authors

Charting the Siberian continental shelf during the height of the Cold War

Unknown Waters tells the story of the brave officers and men of the nuclear attack submarine USS Queenfish (SSN-651), who made the first survey of an extremely important and remote region of the Arctic Ocean. The unpredictability of deep-draft sea ice, shallow water, and possible Soviet discovery, all played 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 or less, the attack submarine carefully threaded its way through innumerable underwater canyons of ice and over irregular seafloors, at one point becoming entrapped in an “ice garage.” Only cool thinking and skillful maneuvering of the nearly 5,000-ton vessel enabled a successful exit.

List of Illustrations

Foreword by Captain William R. Anderson, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Man Overboard!

2. Becoming a Submarine Officer

3. The Advent of the True Arctic Submarine

4. Construction and Commissioning of USS Queenfish (SSN-651)

5. The First Arctic Test of Queenfish: The Davis Strait Marginal Sea-Ice Operation

6. Prospective Commanding Officer Training for Submarine Command

7. Taking Command of Queenfish

8. Mission Underway: En Route to the Arctic at Last

9. A Brief on the Arctic Ocean and Siberian Continental Shelf

10. Through the Bering Strait and into the Chukchi Sea

11. First Surfacings in the Arctic Ocean: En Route to the Geographic North Pole

12. Exploring the Nansen Cordillera for Volcanic Activity

13. The Northeast Passage and the Development of the Northern Sea Route

14. To Severnaya Zemlya and the Beginning of the Shelf Survey

15. The East Coast of Severnaya Zemlya and the Vilkitsky Strait

16. Alteration of the Survey Plan in the Shallow Laptev Sea

17. Northward around the New Siberian Islands

18. The Even Shallower East Siberian Sea

19. Return to Survey the Northwestern Chukchi Sea

20. Nome and the Long Journey Home

Epilogue

Appendix

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Alfred S. McLaren is a retired US Navy Captain, recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal and two Legions of Merit, president emeritus of The Explorers Club, senior pilot of the SAS Aviator submersible, and president of The American Polar Society.

William R. Anderson was skipper of USS Nautilus (SSN-571) during that vessel’s 1958 achievement of the North Pole and historic Pacific to Atlantic crossing of the Arctic Ocean. He was subsequently awarded the Legion of Merit by President Eisenhower and, following his retirement from the Navy, elected to the U.S. Congress from Tennessee for four terms. He died in 2007 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.