A Brief History
On April 25, 1960, the nuclear powered US Navy submarine, Triton, completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth while underwater. With about 71% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, people have been finding ways to travel above and below the water’s surface forever, and today we look at a few of the subsurface accomplishments.
Digging Deeper
In 1864, the Confederate submarine, H.L Hunley, became the first sub to sink a surface ship, although the Hunley was also lost in the attack.
In 1958, USS Nautilus became the first submarine to sail under the North Pole. Nautilus was the first nuclear powered submarine.
The Soviet Typhoon class submarines, commissioned in 1981, are the largest subs ever built, 574 feet long and displacing 48,000 tonnes.
In 2019, Victor Vescovo piloted a submarine called DSV Limiting Factor on the deepest manned dive in history, 10,928 meters, besting the previous record by only 16 meters.
Notes: For those readers unaware of this, the author is particularly fond of alliteration… Also, some sources say the circumnavigation by Triton ended on May 10, 1960. The Triton did make a brief trip to the surface due to a medical emergency, but all the travel was submerged. NATO called the Akula class subs, “Typhoon.”
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Beach, Edward. Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton. Naval Institute Press, 2012.
Yong, Josh. Expedition Deep Ocean: The First Descent to the Bottom of All Five of the World’s Oceans. Pegasus Books, 2020.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of the Triton Medal, presented to each member of the Circumnavigation Crew by Captain Edward L. Beach, is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
