Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine

Sea Power, Jul 1999 by Peterson, Gordon I

UNDER ICE: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine, By William M. Leary. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1999, $32.95. [Available on Amazon.com through the Navy League website.]

Reviewed by Gordon I. Peterson, Senior Editor

It has been said that one can usually determine the caliber of a man by the amount of opposition it takes to discourage him. By this measure, William M. Leary's biography of Dr. Waldo Lyon provides an inspiring account of how one man's lifelong tenacity in the face of bureaucratic lethargy and skepticism can make a difference in translating a vision to reality. During the early years of World War II, Lyon began his quest to develop an Arctic submarine for the U.S. Navy that would be fully capable of operating in one of the most challenging operational environments imaginable-beneath the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean. For 55 years, he championed-at times single-handedly-a research effort to provide the Navy with the information it would need to design a submarine that could operate safely and effectively in the world's most poorly understood ocean.

In the words of retired Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, "The nuclear submarine made Arctic operations possible, but without the knowledge of Waldo Lyon I doubt our Navy would have ventured under the sea ice to the [North] Pole." Lyon's painstaking efforts to acquire this knowledge are meticulously detailed by Leary in references to numerous interviews with Navy submarine commanders, declassified patrol reports, and the scientific journal that Lyon compiled for more than five decades. As a result, Under Ice provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of the U.S. Navy's under-ice operations and of Lyon's pioneering role in making those operations possible-as was recognized by his selection for the President's Medal for Distinguished Federal Service during the Kennedy administration.

It is noteworthy that, prior to the USS Hawkbill's under-ice expedition to the Arctic in 1999, the submarine's commanding officer required every officer on board to read chapter seven of Leary's book-a description of USS Sargo's hazardous 1960 Arctic cruise.

With the design of the Sturgeonclass boats during the 1960s, the Navy finally constructed nuclearpowered attack submarines with greatly improved under-ice capabilities. Recognition of the strategic importance of the Arctic Ocean had reached new levels during the height of the Cold Warbecause, as Lyon wrote, "The Arctic Ocean is the submariner's private sea, hence his sole capability to exploit and control."

In his foreword to Under Ice, retired Vice Adm. John H. Nicholson writes that the Navy would do well to heed Lyon's warning concerning the need to maintain a robust under-ice capability and not lose its hard-earned polar expertise. Unfortunately, with the retirement of the Sturgeon class of attack submarines and the planned reduction of the submarine force to 50 boats by 2003, the Navy's Arctic submarine operations will unavoidably decline in the face of higher-priority warfighting and intelligence requirements. As the number of sophisticated high-endurance conventional submarines continues to proliferate around the world, it remains to be seen if the Department of Defense and U.S. political leaders will heed Lyon's counsel and restore the submarine force to the numbers required to meet current and projected operational requirements-and sustain the U.S. Navy's Arctic preeminence.