In 1970 the U.S nuclear submarine Queenfish explored the fringes of the Soviet Union's eastern Arctic Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas. Alfred McLaren, the Captain of the Queenfish at the time, told the story last spring in his book Unknown Waters.
Queenfish followed the route shown in the map below (taken from a New York Times story based on the book): Queenfish: A Cold War Tale.
The route of the Queenfish through the Arctic Ocean. Source: New York Times.
The Queenfish entered the Chukchi Sea on July 30, passing submerged through the Bering Strait. She turned east, traveled to the latitude of Barrow, and then took off for the pole, reaching it on on August 5.
Queenfish at the North Pole on August 6. Source: U.S. Navy via New York Times.
She explored the underwater Gakkel Ridge on the 7th, and then headed for the Soviet Union. She arrived off of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago on the western edge of the Laptev Sea on August 10.
Once she reached the Soviet Union, Queenfish turned east and crossed several shallow seas. She traveled through uncharted waters much of the time, sandwiched between the sea bottom and the overhead ice. The sea bottom survey, and the things she learned about operating under the ice, would be valuable for future U.S. Arctic submarine operations.
U.S. Navy figure showing Queenfish between the bottom and the ice. Source: New York Times.
In 1970 international law had not settled on a recognized standard for the width of a nation's territorial sea. The Soviet Union claimed a 200 mile limit, while the U.S. recognized a 12 mile limit. The Soviet Union also asserted, but did not enforce, control over certain parts of the continental shelf seaward of her territorial sea. The Queenfish's orders required her to observe the 12 mile limit, and in fact "strongly advised" adding an additional two nautical miles to be conservative.
Although she would not be entering the waters recognized as Soviet territorial waters by the U.S., there certainly was disagreement over the interpretation. Moreover, the Queenfish was gathering information for military use. There were good reasons not to advertise her presence. From 9th August on, the Queenfish retained all garbage on board. She would stay underwater, although she would frequently come to periscope depth to conduct visual surveys, to get navigational information, and to communicate with the U.S.
On the 10th, the Queenfish approached Komsomelets Island, at the
northern end of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. This chain of
islands is the eastern boundary of the Laptev Sea.
She traveled south, parallel to the islands, eventually turning to the east, to follow the contour of the continental shelf. Areas of open water provided opportunities to come to periscope depth.
On an early attempt to reach the surface, Queenfish's ascent came to an abrupt and unexpected stop 75 feet down: "it seemed as if she had run up against a concrete ceiling." The crew had bumped into a top layer or "lens" of relatively fresh and considerably less dense water. The submarine, which had enough buoyancy to cope with denser salty water did not have enough to enter the fresher layer. Getting rid of additional ballast got them into the lens and to the surface. They realized that they might face this issue on much of the Siberian continental shelf (presumably because of the enormous fresh water runoff from Siberian rivers).
The Laptev Sea was relatively shallow, and the seafloor was uneven, broken by "shoals, seamounts and pingos" (hear meaning "a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to 70 metres (230 ft) in height). During the trip they would have several close calls when the depth changed quickly within a few seconds, or within a ship's length.
On the 14th, they crossed a 30 foot deep gouge or trench in the seafloor. They speculated that it had been dug by "a deep-draft ice keel or an iceberg." They would find more of these scours and they thought about the potential military implications:
In subsequent discussions in the control room and throughout the boat, it occurred to more than one crew member that these scours, gouges, or trenches might be of future military value, some of the deeper ones as patrol or prelaunch safe havens for ballistic missile submarines. A suitably equipped Arctic nuclear attack submarine could conceivably use them as routes for penetrating southward from the Arctic Ocean to an excellent interdiction position for employing mines and torpedoes against submerged adversaries as well as for shipping along a northern convoy route.
I wonder if the tactical advantage would have been shortlived as the Soviets themselves developed their submarine capabilities and found the trenches. Were they eventually seeded with sensors or mines?
She crossed the Laptev sea along the track shown. You can see that just before entering the East Siberian Sea, she dashed out to deeper water to surface and make radio transmissions. The East Siberian Sea was even shallower than the Laptev.
In the late afternoon of August 23, the Queenfish worked her way into, and came to a stop within, a cul-de-sac. Shallow water kept her from moving forward, the ice above her prevented her from surfacing, deep ice "keels" on either side prevented her from moving out one either side. She "hovered" 10 feet above the bottom, and the ice was no more than 15 to 20 feet above the top or her sail. It took an hour for McLaren to carefully back her out. The close call haunted him for years to come.
On the 25th Queenfish entered the Chukchi Sea to the north of Wrangell and Herald Islands. As she headed to the southeast and the Bering Strait she was again caught between shallow water and surface ice. The waters were expected to become shallower as they headed south. It might be necessary to backtrack to the north and come at the Strait from a different angle.
Chukchi Sea showing the position of Herald Island. Source: Wikipedia
In a conference with onboard oceanographers, McLaren learned about a recently discovered underwater valley, the Herald Sea Valley, which lay 20 to 30 feet deeper than the surrounding seafloor. A southern entrance to this valley was known, and the valley was believed to run to the north of its entrance, but the location of the northern entrance was unknown. It might, however, lie in this area.
Throughout the afternoon of the 26th, Queenfish probed the waters to the north and east of Herald Island (to the northeast of Wrangell Island - click on the map to enlarge it and get a good look) looking for the entrance to the valley, finally finding it in the evening. She followed it to ice free waters, documenting its entrance and deepest axis for future military use.
Captain Alfred McLaren's account Unknown Waters. A Firsthand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651) (The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. 2008.) describes McLaren's preparation for command of a nuclear submarine operating under polar ice and the construction and operational history of the Queenfish up to 1970, and gives a careful and systematic account of the trip. William Broad wrote an account of the trip for the New York Times, based on McLaren's book: Queenfish: A Cold War Tale. NYT. March 18, 2008.
Dear friends! According to the information what I am having is that, a “Submarine” has a special sensor to detect icebergs jutting downward with threatening spikes. From bow to stern, it should have a total of seven acoustic sensors pointing upward to help the crew judge the thickness of ice overhead.
So, using these sensors our “Captain Alfred McLaren's” should have found out the ice berg in time and should follow the rules, but why was that not happened?
Finally the story behind the “U.S nuclear submarine Queen fish” remained a mystery...
Posted by: חדרי מלח | June 26, 2011 at 08:13 AM