Submarine Expedition to the Arctic

The Wilkins-Ellsworth Polar Expedition of 1931 makes a fascinating story.  Far before its time, the idea was to navigate underwater from Spitsbergen Norway into the Bering Strait, right under the Arctic ice cap.  This expedition was organized by an Australian explorer, involved a submarine named Nautilus and, just to jump ahead, did not prove successful.  In fact, this Nautilus now rests in 1100 feet of water off Bergen, Norway.

Ex-US submarine O-12 becomes the Nautilus after a refit by Simon Lake where the original superstructure was removed and a retractable conning tower and dozens of other under-ice features were added.  You can't help thinking of the US Navy's Nautilus and the difficulties her crew encountered while completing the first under-the-ice transit of the North Pole in 1958. 

A couple of great websites on the Wilkins-Ellsworth Expedition:

 The Low Road North, American Philosophical Society

 Wilkins-Ellsworth Trans Arctic Expedition, Through the Looking Glass

Photo credits: U.S. Navy