Customer Reviews

Surface at the Pole: The Extraordinary Voyages of the USS Skate (Bluejacket Books)

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Author of several books reflecting upon his career in the Navy, James F. Calvert has the mind of an officer, the heart of a chief, and the soul of an ordinary seaman. Like SILENT RUNNING, a memoir of World War II, filled with memorable people like the gravel-voiced Lieutenant Commander Tommy Dykers (later, the host of a popular TV show about fleet boats in the war), SURFACE AT THE POLE shows a grasp of detail that takes the reader on a bow to stern tour of a remarkable time in history. Unassuming and eager to share the stage with all who served with him, Calvert writes elegantly and simply.

Since sea ice is generally less than 12 feet thick it is easy for a submarine to cruise under the ice of the Arctic Ocean. But conventional submarines can cruise underwater only as long as their battery lasts; they depend on constant access to the surface if only to recharge their batteries. Conventional submarine never penetrated deep into the arctic for fear of failing to find a place to surface in time to recharge their batteries. Nuclear submarines do not have this problem.

This book describes the arctic explorations of the nuclear submarine that developed tactics for operation in the Arctic Ocean, the USS Skate.

Nuclear subs do need to surface in an emergency (fire or power plant problems), to launch missiles or communicate so during the 1st cruise discussed, Captain James F. Calvert describes tactics developed for operating in the Arctic Ocean during the summer. These include locating melt pools (pond to lake-sized pools of water called Polynayas) dotting the arctic landscape and surfacing without the forward motion normally used to stabilize a submarine; there was to little space. There is an interesting account of how an arctic research station drifting 2-3 miles/day on an ice flow a few hundred miles from the North Pole was located. The USS Skate was able to surface in a polynaya within 50 yards of the camp. The crew greeted researchers that had been isolated for months (the summer ice was to thin and weak for a plane to land on).

Polyanyas do not exist near the pole in winter so new tactics were required for a winter operation. Taking their clue from beluga whales, the sub was modified and tactics for winter arctic operations were developed during the 2nd cruise discussed. During this trip the USS Skate became the 1st ship to surface at the North Pole by breaking through the relatively thin ice that occurs when ice flows crack forming "leads". In the winter these leads immediately start to re-freeze but the ice remains thin enough for a sub (modified for this task) to break through for over a week.

A simple writing style and good organization results in a book providing considerable detail on the nature of the arctic in an interesting story format.

Given the partially scientific nature of these trips (scientists were aboard for both cruises) and the current role arctic ice plays in the global warming debate this book is a great source of unbiased information on what the arctic is really like.

Good book, style is somewhat military-dry, but this guy loves the arctic and arctic exploration, and is an expert, so his references and bibliography are EXCELLENT.

I bought this book because my husband was on the 2 cruises made by the USS Skate under the ICE
And we wanted books to give our grandchildren,plus would you believe I have not read it yet.