Outward bound Triton departed New London on February 16, 1960, for what was announced as her shakedown cruise
(pictured).
Triton set course to the south-east (134 degrees true). At dawn on February 17,
Triton performed her first morning star-sighting using the built-in
sextant in her No. 1 periscope during the nightly ventilation of the shipboard atmosphere. The inboard induction valve was closed after the removal of a rusted flashlight that had prevented its closure. Captain Beach announced the true nature of their shakedown cruise
(pictured): Men, I know you've all been waiting to learn what this cruise is about, and why we're still headed southeast. Now, at last, I can tell you that we are going on the voyage which all submariners have dreamed of ever since they possessed the means of doing so. We have the ship and we have the crew. We're going around the world, nonstop. And we're going to do it entirely submerged. Regarding the upcoming voyage, Beach adopted a decidedly non-traditional command style: Early on, I realized that what this particular crew needed from me was not pressure but the light touch. Once informed of our objective, their enthusiasm infected everything they did, and here and there might easily have caused stress-related dysfunction. Extended separation from home and family with no means of communications was not a problem – submariners are used to that – but bearing down too much on the job might be. My concern was about our performance in an emergency, being at the same time unable to predict what emergencies might be in store for us. It was important, I thought, to hold back on the pressure until a really tough problem came up. This happened several times, as I knew it would, and I was glad I had something in reserve. For the shakedown cruise, Beach adopted a specific weekly shipboard routine. Mondays and Tuesdays involved regular activities, with drills, lectures, school of the ship, and class programs from the noon to 1600 watch. Wednesdays had the crew on reduced activities that is traditionally known as Rope Yarn Sunday. Thursdays saw a schedule of regular drills, and Fridays involved upkeep and general maintenance activities known as Field Day. Saturdays had regular activities with afternoon drills, and Sundays had reduced activities with normal watches and religious observances. (February 24, 1960)|alt=Large multiple rock outcroppings located in the middle of the ocean with a lighthouse located in the center as seen through a submarine periscope. Also, beginning on February 17 during the
mid watch,
Triton came to periscope depth to take a nightly fix using the built-in sextant in her celestial periscope, ventilate and replenish her shipboard atmosphere using the
snorkel, and dispose of any shipboard garbage. Since
Triton did not have a generator to extract oxygen from sea water, these nightly snorkeling activities were crucial to maintaining a suitable atmosphere. Later that same day, February 17, 1960,
Triton experienced a serious leak with a main condenser circulating water pump, and a reactor warning alarm tripped because of a defective electrical connection. Both incidents were handled successfully and did not affect the ship's performance. On February 18
Triton conducted her first general daily drill and on February 19 released her first twice-daily hydrographic bottles, used to study
ocean current patterns. Also on February 19, shipboard sensors detected a radiation leak. It was subsequently determined the
radium dials on three wristwatches were the cause for the alarm, and once removed, no radiation was detected for the balance of the voyage. On February 23,
Triton detected a previously uncharted
seamount with her
fathometer. Beach maintained that the greatest challenge facing the crew was a seemingly mundane activity, garbage disposal and cleaning: "It was 84 days of strenuous work just keeping the ship clean. It was amazing how much dirt we created, so I had a field day every weekend. The crew started objecting until they saw how much trash we kept getting rid of. Then they couldn't object." To remove trash without surfacing,
Triton had a garbage disposal unit (GDU), a small inverted torpedo tube that ejected a weighted bag of refuse through the bottom of the ship. However, if the GDU was temporarily out of commission due to repairs, as it was on February 22, the aft torpedo tubes were used, a less than optimum solution. On February 24,
Triton made her first landfall, reaching
St. Peter and Paul Rocks (pictured) after traveling . The Rocks served as the home plate for
Triton submerged circumnavigation. Photographic reconnaissance was carried out by Lt. Richard M. Harris, the CIC/ECM officer, and Chief Cryptologic Technician (CTC) William R. Hadley, who served as the ship's secondary photo-recon team for the voyage.
Triton turned south and crossed the
equator for the first time later that day, passing into the
Southern Hemisphere, with ship's personnel participating in the
crossing the line ceremony (pictured).
Destination: Cape Horn On March 1, 1960, as
Triton passed along the east coast of South America, a trio of crises threatened to end Operation Sandblast prematurely. The first was when Chief Radarman (RDC) John R. Poole began suffering from a series of
kidney stones. The second was when the ship's fathometer went out of commission, with its loss meaning
Triton could no longer echo-sound the sea floor, increasing the danger of grounding or collision as the ship traveled through poorly charted waters. Captain Beach observed: Fortunately at the present time we are in an area where the water is deeper than normal for the Atlantic and for a number of hours there is [no] worry about unexpectedly scraping the top of any unsuspected submerged peak. But we will want that fathometer badly as we approach Cape Horn. Perhaps most critically, the third problem involved the readings on one of the reactors indicating a serious malfunction which required its shutdown. As Captain Beach noted, "So far as
Triton and the first of March were concerned, it seemed that troubles were not confined to pairs. On that day we were to have them in threes." Later that day, Lt. Milton R. Rubb and his electronics technician team returned the fathometer to operational status, and the Chief Engineer Donald D. Fears, Reactor Officer Lt. Cmdr. Robert P. McDonald, and
Triton engineering crew repaired the malfunctioning reactor. Since Poole's symptoms were intermittent,
Triton continued south, although there was a detour to the
Golfo Nuevo region when the ship investigated an unknown sonar contact. Contemporary news accounts reported the
Argentine Navy had been encountering numerous unknown submarine contacts in the Golfo Nuevo during early 1960, but
Triton contact turned out to be a school of fish. On March 3,
Triton located the
Falkland Islands on her radar and prepared to conduct
photoreconnaissance of
Stanley Harbor. Before they could visually sight the islands, Poole's condition worsened so much that—taking a calculated risk—Captain Beach reversed course, ordered
flank speed, and sent a radio message to headquarters describing the situation. From the ship's log on that date, Beach noted: (March 7, 1960)|alt=Capt Horn as seen from the periscope of the nuclear submarine USS
Triton is a rugged, jagged-edge mountainous rock formation rising above heavy sea swells under a stormy sky. In the control and living spaces, the ship had quieted down, too. Orders were given in low voices; the men speak to each other, carrying out their normal duties, in a repressed atmosphere. A regular pall has descended upon us. I know that all hands are aware of the decision and recognize the need for it. Perhaps they are relieved that they did not have to make it. But it is apparent that this unexpected illness, something that could neither have been foreseen nor prevented, may ruin our submergence record. Fortunately, the
heavy cruiser , with Captain Reuben T. Whitaker in command, had been on a good-will cruise to South American ports since January as the flagship for Rear Admiral Edward C. Stephan, Commander Naval Forces South Atlantic (Task Force 138).
Macon had been in Argentine waters in conjunction with US President Eisenhower's visit to Argentina from February 26–29, 1960. In the early hours of March 5,
Triton rendezvoused with
Macon off
Montevideo, Uruguay, after a diversion of over .
Triton broached, exposing only her
sail while preserving the submarine's hull's submerged status. A boat-handling party led by Lieutenant George A. Sawyer, the ship's gunnery officer, transferred Poole to the waiting
whaleboat, which then returned to
Macon. Poole was the only crew member who did not complete the voyage. Chief Radarman Poole was subsequently examined by both the doctors aboard
Macon and at a hospital in Montevideo, but his third attack of kidney stones, which prompted his transfer off
Triton, proved to be his last–and he did not require kidney surgery. After the rendezvous,
Triton dove and turned back southwards. She subsequently passed west of the Falklands, and rounded Cape Horn
(pictured) through
Estrecho de le Maire (
Drake Passage) on March 7. Captain Beach described his first impressions of this legendary lands-end of the Western Hemisphere as "bold and forbidding, like the sway-backed profile of some prehistoric sea monster." Captain Beach allowed all the crew an opportunity to view Cape Horn through the ship's periscope, requiring five reverses of
Triton course to keep the cape in sight.
Across the Pacific On March 7,
Triton entered the Pacific Ocean and passed into the operational control of Rear Admiral
Roy S. Benson, Commander Submarine Force U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), who had been Captain Beach's commanding officer while he served on the
fleet submarine in the
Pacific War.
Triton would not see land for the next . On March 8,
Triton detected a
seamount, registering a minimum depth of , with a total height of above the ocean floor. On the same day,
Triton conducted a successful drill simulating the emergency shutdown of both her reactors and loss of all power. Two days later, the
starboard propshaft seal sprung a major leak in the after engine room. A makeshift locking clamp was jury-rigged to contain the leak. On March 12, the trouble-plagued fathometer ceased operation when its transducer header flooded, grounding out the entire system. Since the transducer head was located outside the boat's
pressure hull, it could not be repaired except in drydock. Without an operational fathometer,
Triton could be vulnerable to grounding or collision with uncharted submerged formations. (It was later determined that the cabling to
Triton fathometer head, located in the bulbous forefoot of her bow, had not been properly insulated, and the constant buffeting from
Triton high speed caused these cables to rupture, rendering the fathometer inoperable.) On March 13,
Triton detected a submerged peak using active sonar and the gravity meter that confirmed the feasibility of this procedure.
Triton spotted
Easter Island on that same day, March 13, 1960, first by radar, then by periscope. The northeastern coast of the island was photographed for two and a half hours before the statue that
Thor Heyerdahl had erected was spotted. The entire crew was invited to observe through the periscope before
Triton departed for her next visual landfall of
Guam, some distant. On March 17, a malfunctioning air compressor was repaired. This required the complete re-wiring of the compressor's armature, a task ordinarily done aboard a
submarine tender or in a shipyard. Captain Beach was impressed by "this spirit and outlook [that] permeated our crew." He was also "astonished" by two different makeshift fathometer sound transmitters created by the electronics and engineering crewmen. One was based on a general announcing speaker, the other used a stainless steel cooking pot from the galley, with stainless steel rods and copper wiring. Beach noted in the ship's log: "I could only marvel at the ingenuity of the American sailor." On March 19,
Triton detected another submerged peak, using its sonar and gravity meter, and crossed the equator a second time, returning to the
Northern Hemisphere. Another submerged peak was successfully detected on March 20. Later that day,
Triton made her closest approach to
Pearl Harbor, and the crew celebrated with a
luau.
Triton crossed the
International Date Line on March 23, losing March 24 from her calendar. The next day, sonar indicated another previously uncharted rise from the ocean floor, logged with a depth of . Two days later, March 27,
Triton passed the point of closest approach to the location where
her namesake was lost during
World War II, and a memorial service was held to commemorate the occasion. A submerged
naval gun salute was fired to honor the lost crew when three water slugs were shot in quick succession from the forward torpedo tubes. On the morning of March 28,
Triton spotted Guam and observed activity on shore via her periscope. Petty Officer Edward Carbullido
(pictured), who had been born on Guam but away for 14 years, was asked to identify his parents' house through the periscope while the boat remained submerged in Agat Bay. (Carbullido was subsequently able to go home to Guam for Christmas Day 1960 on a 60-day leave, with the cost of his flight paid for by selling a magazine article on
Triton circumnavigation written by Captain Beach, and with the assistance of
Pan American Airways. Captain Beach subsequently wrote an account of Carbullido's visit for the November 1961 issue of
The American Legion Magazine.)
Triton then changed course for the
Philippines, the midpoint of her around-the-world voyage.
The Philippines On March 31,
Triton crossed over the
Philippine Trench and began threading her way through the vast
Philippine archipelago, passing from the
Philippine Sea through the
Surigao Strait and then the
Mindanao Sea, and finally through the
Bohol Strait into the
Camotes Sea. A special water sample was taken during
Triton transit of Surigao Strait; its recipient was the retired Vice Admiral
Jesse B. Oldendorf, the task force commander whose battleships had defeated the
Japanese Southern Force during the
Battle of Surigao Strait, history's last naval action fought between battleships, during World War II. Captain Beach observed, "We think that Admiral Oldendorf will appreciate a sample of this body of water." On April 1,
Triton spotted
Mactan Island, and shortly before noon, sighted the
monument (
pictured) commemorating the
death of Ferdinand Magellan at that site, thereby reaching the midpoint of her circumnavigation. Later that same day,
April Fool's Day,
Triton was sighted by the only unauthorized person to spot the submarine during her top secret voyage–a young Filipino man in a small dugout canoe (
pictured) about off
Triton beam, staring at her raised periscope. Captain Beach later recorded his reactions to this unexpected encounter in his log: The noted photographer Joseph Baylor Roberts of
National Geographic magazine was able to snap several photos of this unexpected interloper
(pictured) through the ship's periscope before
Triton moved out of range. The November 1960 issue identified the fisherman as 19-year-old Rufino Baring of Punta Engano, Mactan Island, who believed he had encountered a sea monster: "I was very frightened. I tried to get away as fast as I could." Later on the afternoon of April 1,
Triton proceeded through
Hilutangan Channel into the
Sulu Sea via Bohol Strait. On April 2,
Triton gyroscopic repeaters, used to maintain the ship's
navigational bearing, began to experience sudden, severe
oscillations, possibly caused by a malfunctioning
synchro amplifier. The helm was shifted to direct gyro input, the synchro amplifiers were checked out, and the gyroscopic repeaters appeared to return to normal function. Later, while transiting the Pearl Bank Passage, a narrow channel lined with
coral reefs, a periscope observation determined that
Triton was off course, indicating a potentially hazardous helm error. Steering control was immediately shifted to the control room, with the helm using the master gyroscopic repeater. While the malfunction was detected in time and the ship was not in any immediate danger, the loss of navigational bearing could have been catastrophic, with Captain Beach noting that "the episode had a sobering effect."
Triton then proceeded through the
Sibutu Passage into the
Celebes Sea, leaving Philippine waters, and subsequently entered
Makassar Strait, crossing the equator a third time, on April 3, and then, during April 4, transited the
Flores Sea, bound for Lombok Strait, the gateway to the Indian Ocean.
Indian Ocean On April 5,
Triton entered the Indian Ocean via the
Lombok Strait. The transition proved dramatic. The change in
salinity and density of the seawater caused her to dive abruptly from periscope depth to in about 40 seconds. Captain Beach noted, "I had experienced changes in water density many times before, but never one of this magnitude."
Triton returned to periscope depth and subsequently entered the Indian Ocean. While crossing the Indian Ocean,
Triton conducted a sealed-ship experiment. Beginning April 10, rather than refreshing the air in the ship by snorkeling each night, she remained sealed, using compressed air to make up for consumed
oxygen, as well as burning "
oxygen candles" to replenish the ship's atmosphere. Also, starting on April 15, the smoking lamp was extinguished, with no
tobacco smoking permitted anywhere aboard the ship. During this smoking ban, Dr. Benjamin Weybrew carried out a battery of tests on crew volunteers, both smokers and non-smokers, to measure cardiovascular functions and psychological stress indices to determine the effects that the prohibition of tobacco had on individual and group performance of the test subjects. The objective of this experiment was to determine the advisability of prohibiting the use of tobacco from submarine operations given the extended submerged duration of missions involving nuclear-powered submarines. The test results determined that smokers showed consistently higher mean oral temperature and
pulse rate, both at rest and following exercises, as well as significantly increased pulse rates over non-smokers, a marked decrease in alertness, and an increase in
insomnia symptoms. However, there was no significant difference in
blood pressure between smokers and non-smokers. Finally, smokers experienced "debilitative performance decrements" during the smoking prohibition, and as a consequence, this also affected the morale of non-smokers, both among the participants in the experiment as well as non-participants. Dr. Weybrew concluded smoking should be avoided because of its attendant health and relational issues, and that not smoking enhances one's overall stress coping capacity (SCC). At the 1963 convention of the Cigar Institute of America, Weybrew noted: "When a smoker is forbidden to smoke he just doesn't like it. The smokers in the test got irritable, ate too much, had trouble sleeping, and personal relationships began to deteriorate." On Easter Sunday, April 17,
Triton sighted the
Cape of Good Hope and subsequently re-entered the
South Atlantic Ocean, returning to the command authority of Rear Admiral Lawrence R. Daspit (COMSUBLANT).
Return to the St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks , Spain (May 2, 1960)|alt=Port side view of the sail and forward deck of the nuclear submarine
Triton breaking the surface of the ocean near Cádiz, Spain, with hull number 586 visible on its sail. The smoking lamp was re-lit on April 18, with the three days of prohibition having taken a noticeable toll on crew morale. Rather than passing the word in a traditional manner, Captain Beach demonstrated the lifting of the ban by walking through the ship smoking a cigar, blowing smoke in people's faces, and asking, "Don't you wish you could do this?" He recorded in his log that "it took some 37 seconds for the word to get around." On April 20, 1960,
Triton crossed the
Prime Meridian, and on April 24, the sealed atmosphere experiment was terminated. On the same day that the sealed atmosphere experiment was terminated, April 24, 1960,
Triton experienced a major equipment failure. In the aft torpedo room, a hydraulic line to the stern plane mechanism burst. Through the prompt action by Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Allen W. Steele, aided by Engineman Third Class Arlan F. Martin, this potentially catastrophic event was successfully contained. Eventually, the main hydraulic system was restored with a control valve from the steering system, but the boat's steering controls remained on emergency mode for the rest of the voyage. It was subsequently determined that the pipe burst was caused by a fractured valve. For his quick and decisive actions in handling this emergency, Steele was presented the
Navy Commendation Medal. On April 25,
Triton crossed the Equator a final time, re-entering the
Northern Hemisphere, and shortly thereafter, she sighted the
St. Peter and Paul Rocks, completing the first submerged
circumnavigation. As Captain Beach wrote, "We are not yet home, but we may be considered to have taken a long lead off third base."
Homeward bound During April 28–29,
Triton conducted engineering drills, then proceeded to
Tenerife, the
Canary Islands, arriving on April 30, and thereafter setting course for
Cádiz, Spain, to complete two additional goals of Operation Sandblast. One was to honor the seaport where Ferdinand Magellan set sail in 1519 to initiate the first global maritime circumnavigation, and the other was to deliver a plaque created to honor Magellan's and
Triton historic voyages when
Triton rendezvoused with the destroyer off Cádiz on May 2, 1960. Afterward, Beach noted, "We are on the last leg of our trip enroute to the United States."
Triton returned to the United States, surfacing off the coast of
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on May 10, 1960. Captain Beach was flown by helicopter (
pictured) to Washington, D.C., where news of
Triton submerged around-the-world voyage was announced by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House, with Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", in attendance. Beach flew back to his boat later that day, and
Triton arrived back at Groton, Connecticut, on May 11, 1960, completing her shakedown cruise and the first submarine circumnavigation of the Earth. ==Mission accomplishments==