US "New Magellan": the First Undersea Circumnavigation of the Globe, the Voyage of the Nuclear Submarine USS Triton (24 February 1960 - 10 May 1960)

Abstract

The main task of the USS Triton –following the former journey around the Earth (1519-1522) of the Magellan expedition– was to circumnavigate the Earth, but all the way under water and at periscope depth. The USS Triton traveled 67,292 km in 84 days and 19 hours and never once surfaced. The nuclear submarine crossed the Equator four times, as did Magellan’s ship Victoria at the time. The First Submarine Circumnavigation of the World took place at a time when there was a great Soviet-American nuclear and military technology competition. Operation Sandblast was motivated by several motives. One was of a diplomatic nature: American President Eisenhower wanted to achieve a great and spectacular diplomatic success against the Soviet Union before the four summit meeting planned for Paris in May 1960. The military-strategic elements of Operation Sandblast included the clear demonstration that nuclear-powered American submarines could appear anywhere in the world’s oceans for a very long time all the while remaining submerged. The USS Triton headed for the Spanish coast, as Magellan’s journey had also started from here. An American cruiser took a special coin from the nuclear submarine after completing the trip around the world and handed it over to the Spanish authorities, thus commemorating Magellan’s voyage of 1519-1522, which was repeated in 1960 by the USS Triton.