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
Skate-class submarine Skate-class submarine The "Skate"-class submarines were the United States Navy's first production run of nuclear-powered submarines. They were an evolution of the in everything except their propulsion plants, which were based on the operational prototype . The four "Skate" class boats re-introduced stern torpedo tubes. Although among the smallest nuclear-powered attack submarines ever built, the "Skate" class served for many years, with the last being decommissioned in 1989. USS "Skate" was the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, on 17 March 1959. "Skate" and "Sargo" were built with the S3W reactor, "Swordfish" and "Seadragon" also had the S3W