Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in spite of the threats and objections of Alvarez, "Seaview" launches a missile toward the belt and it explodes the burning flames outward, saving the world. The name of the film is an inversion of a phrase popular at the time, concerning the exploration of the Arctic Ocean by nuclear submarines, namely, "a voyage to the top of the world." From August 1, 1958, through August 5, 1958, USS "Nautilus" (SSN-571) (the first nuclear-powered submarine), under the command of Commander (later Captain) William R. Anderson, steamed under the Arctic ice cap to make the first crossing from the Pacific to
Ice Station Zebra (novel) under the North Pole), , and . MacLean may have been anticipating the excitement of his British readers regarding the upcoming commissioning of the , the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine. Also, MacLean may have been influenced by press reports about the nuclear-powered submarine USS "Skate" visiting Ice Station "Alpha", located on Ice Island T-3 in the Arctic, on 14 August 1958, as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY)". At the time that the novel was published, under-the-ice operations by US Navy nuclear-powered submarines were prohibited until SUBSAFE measures had been implemented following the loss of the . "Ice