Navy Electronics Laboratory events—the submerged voyage of USS "Nautilus" from the Pacific to the Atlantic, via the North Pole, in 1958, with NEL’s Dr. Waldo Lyon aboard as chief scientist and ice pilot. That same summer, the USS "Skate" cruised from the Atlantic to the North Pole and the central Arctic Ocean, surfacing 9 times through small holes in the ice cap. Dr. Eugene C. La Fond, head of NEL's Oceanography Branch, was chief scientist In March 1959, the "Skate" returned to the Arctic, under winter conditions, with Dr. Waldo Lyon as chief scientist, and for the first time, the nuclear submarine was
French submarine Espadon (S637) front of her sail. On 13 August 1963 a fire in the torpedo room wounded and intoxicated four sailors, one of whom later died of his wounds. In May 1964, "Espadon" and "Marsouin" steamed under sea ice in the Norwegian Sea as far as 70° north. "Espadon" undertook significant modifications from 1966 to 1968, notably upgrading the boat's sonar, sail and rudders. "Espadon" has been a museum ship at the "ville-port" of Saint-Nazaire in the German-built submarine base since 1987. French submarine Espadon (S637) Espadon was a "Narval"-class submarine of the French Navy. Along with sister boat "Marsouin", the boat