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Around The World Submerged: The Voyage Of The Triton
When the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton was commissioned in November 1959, its commanding officer, Captain Edward L. Beach, planned a routine shakedown cruise in the North Atlantic. Two weeks before the scheduled cruise, however, Beach was summoned to Washington and told of the immediate necessity to prove the reliability of the Rickover-conceived submarine. His new secret orders were to take the Triton around the world, entirely submerged the total distance.
This is Beach's gripping firsthand account of what went on during the 36,000 nautical-mile voyage whose record for speed and endurance still stands today. It brings to life the many tense events in the historic journey: the malfunction of the essential fathometer that indicated the location of undersea mountains and shallow waters, the sudden agonizing illness of a senior petty officer, and the serious problems with the ship's main hydraulic oil system. Intensely dramatic, Beach's chronicle also describes the psychological stresses of the journey and some touching moments shared by the crew. A skillful story teller, he recounts the experience in such detail that readers feel they have been along for the ride of a lifetime.
This is Beach's gripping firsthand account of what went on during the 36,000 nautical-mile voyage whose record for speed and endurance still stands today. It brings to life the many tense events in the historic journey: the malfunction of the essential fathometer that indicated the location of undersea mountains and shallow waters, the sudden agonizing illness of a senior petty officer, and the serious problems with the ship's main hydraulic oil system. Intensely dramatic, Beach's chronicle also describes the psychological stresses of the journey and some touching moments shared by the crew. A skillful story teller, he recounts the experience in such detail that readers feel they have been along for the ride of a lifetime.
297 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
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94 people want to read
About the author
Edward L. Beach
58 books34 followersEdward Latimer Beach, Jr. was a highly-decorated United States Navy submarine officer and best-selling author.
During World War II, he participated in the Battle of Midway and 12 combat patrols, earning 10 decorations for gallantry, including the Navy Cross. After the war, he served as the naval aide to the President of the United States and commanded the first submerged circumnavigation.
After World War II, Beach wrote extensively in his spare time following in the footsteps of his father, who was also a career naval officer and author. His first book Submarine! (1952) was a compilation of accounts of several wartime patrols made by his own as well as other submarines.
In all, Beach published thirteen books, but is best known for his first novel, Run Silent, Run Deep (1955), which appeared on The New York Times Book Review bestseller list for several months. A movie of the same name, based loosely on the novel and starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, was released by United Artists in 1958. Beach penned two sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep: Dust on the Sea (1972), relating in detail a war patrol by Eel leading a wolfpack, and Cold is the Sea (1978), set in 1961 aboard a nuclear submarine.
In addition to Submarine!, Beach wrote several more books on naval history, including The Wreck of the Memphis (1966); United States Navy: 200 Years (1986), a general history of the Navy; Scapegoats: A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl Harbor (1995); and Salt and Steel: Reflections of a Submariner (1999).
Keepers of the Sea (1983) is a pictorial record of the modern navy with photography by Fred J. Maroon. For a number of years Beach was co-editor of Naval Terms Dictionary as that standard reference work passed through several editions. His last work, completed shortly before his death, was to prepare for publication his father's manuscript of his own distinguished service in the navy. That book, From Annapolis to Scapa Flow: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach, Sr (2003), is Captain Beach, Sr.'s personal account of the navy from the age of sail to the age of steam.
In addition to his books, Beach was a prolific author of articles and book reviews for periodicals ranging from Blue Book Magazine to National Geographic, and Naval History to American Heritage.
During World War II, he participated in the Battle of Midway and 12 combat patrols, earning 10 decorations for gallantry, including the Navy Cross. After the war, he served as the naval aide to the President of the United States and commanded the first submerged circumnavigation.
After World War II, Beach wrote extensively in his spare time following in the footsteps of his father, who was also a career naval officer and author. His first book Submarine! (1952) was a compilation of accounts of several wartime patrols made by his own as well as other submarines.
In all, Beach published thirteen books, but is best known for his first novel, Run Silent, Run Deep (1955), which appeared on The New York Times Book Review bestseller list for several months. A movie of the same name, based loosely on the novel and starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, was released by United Artists in 1958. Beach penned two sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep: Dust on the Sea (1972), relating in detail a war patrol by Eel leading a wolfpack, and Cold is the Sea (1978), set in 1961 aboard a nuclear submarine.
In addition to Submarine!, Beach wrote several more books on naval history, including The Wreck of the Memphis (1966); United States Navy: 200 Years (1986), a general history of the Navy; Scapegoats: A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl Harbor (1995); and Salt and Steel: Reflections of a Submariner (1999).
Keepers of the Sea (1983) is a pictorial record of the modern navy with photography by Fred J. Maroon. For a number of years Beach was co-editor of Naval Terms Dictionary as that standard reference work passed through several editions. His last work, completed shortly before his death, was to prepare for publication his father's manuscript of his own distinguished service in the navy. That book, From Annapolis to Scapa Flow: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach, Sr (2003), is Captain Beach, Sr.'s personal account of the navy from the age of sail to the age of steam.
In addition to his books, Beach was a prolific author of articles and book reviews for periodicals ranging from Blue Book Magazine to National Geographic, and Naval History to American Heritage.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 10, 2024
"The members of Triton’s crew who made the voyage with her are already largely dispersed to other assignments, many of them to other submarines. Some of them are, at this very moment, on patrol in ballistic-missile submarines, helping to safeguard America’s ideal of freedom and humanity. ... [W]e will no doubt find our accomplishment pale beside far greater deeds as yet unaccomplished on or beyond this earth. For as soon as the capability is there, man will do what needs to be done so that earth and the spirit of man will both benefit therefrom. "
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The mission to serve the greater is present in most people. The way it manifest differs. In this book, the chronicles of bravery, duty, and endurance are on their greatest display. The crew of Navy Men, set forth in their new submarine to sail around the World submerged, serving their Nation in a capacity that is greater than themselves. They were unwavering in their commitment and devotion to their duty. All together, this book presents an amazing feat of mankind, with a humility and passion that transcends the pages. Although some readers may find it somewhat dry, as it takes pages from the Ship's Log, there is lighthearted stories of the crew, tales from the Captain about the kindness and camaraderie of the Ship, and chronicles of quick thinking and brave actions that save the ship from certain ruin.
Overall, I found this book to be a very interesting and relatively light read. I definitely recommend this book, especially for those interested, at least somewhat like I, in the Navy.
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The mission to serve the greater is present in most people. The way it manifest differs. In this book, the chronicles of bravery, duty, and endurance are on their greatest display. The crew of Navy Men, set forth in their new submarine to sail around the World submerged, serving their Nation in a capacity that is greater than themselves. They were unwavering in their commitment and devotion to their duty. All together, this book presents an amazing feat of mankind, with a humility and passion that transcends the pages. Although some readers may find it somewhat dry, as it takes pages from the Ship's Log, there is lighthearted stories of the crew, tales from the Captain about the kindness and camaraderie of the Ship, and chronicles of quick thinking and brave actions that save the ship from certain ruin.
Overall, I found this book to be a very interesting and relatively light read. I definitely recommend this book, especially for those interested, at least somewhat like I, in the Navy.
June 22, 2016
Welcome to the claustrophobic world of the submariner, in "Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton," Edward L. Beach's memoir of his 1960 voyage on what was then the most advanced of the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarines. Beach was already an old hand at the underwater ships. Originally termed "boats," that designation became obsolete as nuclear power freed submarines from the limitations of diesel/electric battery power, allowing them to achieve sizes that rivaled those of surface-running vessels.
Beach was already a veteran of World War II era submarines when he assumed command in November 1959 of the nuclear-powered USS Triton, prepared to take it on its maiden "shakedown" cruise. But with the United States losing military and technological prestige to the Soviet Union and its successful space program, Cold War politics would send Beach and his crew on a far from routine mission. Beach's secret orders, issued only two weeks before the Triton's launch: to achieve a never before attempted circumnavigation of the globe, without a single surfacing, effectively retracing the route of the first circumnavigation by the ships of Ferdinand Magellan's two centuries earlier.
The success of his mission, it was hoped, would help counterbalance the psychological advantage of the USSR's achievements in space, as well as provide feedback on technology -- and crew psychology -- to be used for the U.S.'s own space program. The effect of failure on U.S. prestige would be devastating, to an extent greater than Beach or any of his crew could realize when they set out.
Beach himself was not allowed to communicate the nature of the mission to anyone except his officers. The crew, and even his family, were told nothing except that the Triton's initial voyage would be longer than usual -- the bare information needed to cover the extent of supplies being laid in. Beach was also able to all hands to lay in private supplies of necessities such as tobacco, chewing gum, toothpaste and soap, without being told that the Triton would not touch any ports where personal items could be replenished. Or that the crew would remain virtually incommunicado with the outside world for almost three months.
However, as the Triton powered its way downriver to the Atlantic Ocean in mid-February 1960, Beach's wife, stationed herself atop a ledge, waving a red scarf in the hope he would see it. "It suddenly came to me," he wrote, "She knows! She must know! After nearly sixteen years facing the unpredictable vicissitudes of Navy life together, sixteen years during which our mutual dependence had steadily deepened, the more I thought the more certain I became. . . (but) I knew that if she had indeed guessed, the Navy need have no fear of her speaking. . . "
Only when well at sea did Beach inform his crew. Over the coming months, they would face crises such as equipment failures, improvising work-arounds while submerged for equipment that would have been repaired or replaced under normal circumstances; the psychological and physical pressures of the confined space on the 183-member crew; and the transfer of an ailing crew member to a rescue ship while the Triton remained submerged up to her sail, (and without information the rescuers of the reason for remaining submerged).
It was not until the Triton reached the U.S. again in early May 1960 (and after meeting with President Dwight Eisenhower) that Beach learned for the first time of the failure of another American project -- the crash of its high-flying reconnaissance plane, the U-2, over the Soviet Union, and the capture of the U-2's pilot, Gary Powers.
For Beach and his men, however, the devastating effect of the U-2 failure was tempered by the sweetness of homecoming. And by the chagrin of learning that the Latin inscription of a plaque designed by the crew members to commemorate the voyages of both the Triton and Magellan, and intended to be presented to Magellan's native Spain, contained a misspelled word. A replacement plaque was hurriedly made, but "the Log of our journey had been made public by the Navy Department," Beach wrote, "and, of course, our error was plain for anyone to see. But only one person, a woman Latin teacher, very courteously and tactfully wrote to point out the mistake."
Although in the current era of virtually instantaneous information, the degree of secrecy of the Triton's voyage seems almost unimaginable, Beach's book stands as a monument to another era as well as to the courage and ingenuity of a captain and his crew, a historic record, and an introduction to lives lived beneath the waves.
Beach was already a veteran of World War II era submarines when he assumed command in November 1959 of the nuclear-powered USS Triton, prepared to take it on its maiden "shakedown" cruise. But with the United States losing military and technological prestige to the Soviet Union and its successful space program, Cold War politics would send Beach and his crew on a far from routine mission. Beach's secret orders, issued only two weeks before the Triton's launch: to achieve a never before attempted circumnavigation of the globe, without a single surfacing, effectively retracing the route of the first circumnavigation by the ships of Ferdinand Magellan's two centuries earlier.
The success of his mission, it was hoped, would help counterbalance the psychological advantage of the USSR's achievements in space, as well as provide feedback on technology -- and crew psychology -- to be used for the U.S.'s own space program. The effect of failure on U.S. prestige would be devastating, to an extent greater than Beach or any of his crew could realize when they set out.
Beach himself was not allowed to communicate the nature of the mission to anyone except his officers. The crew, and even his family, were told nothing except that the Triton's initial voyage would be longer than usual -- the bare information needed to cover the extent of supplies being laid in. Beach was also able to all hands to lay in private supplies of necessities such as tobacco, chewing gum, toothpaste and soap, without being told that the Triton would not touch any ports where personal items could be replenished. Or that the crew would remain virtually incommunicado with the outside world for almost three months.
However, as the Triton powered its way downriver to the Atlantic Ocean in mid-February 1960, Beach's wife, stationed herself atop a ledge, waving a red scarf in the hope he would see it. "It suddenly came to me," he wrote, "She knows! She must know! After nearly sixteen years facing the unpredictable vicissitudes of Navy life together, sixteen years during which our mutual dependence had steadily deepened, the more I thought the more certain I became. . . (but) I knew that if she had indeed guessed, the Navy need have no fear of her speaking. . . "
Only when well at sea did Beach inform his crew. Over the coming months, they would face crises such as equipment failures, improvising work-arounds while submerged for equipment that would have been repaired or replaced under normal circumstances; the psychological and physical pressures of the confined space on the 183-member crew; and the transfer of an ailing crew member to a rescue ship while the Triton remained submerged up to her sail, (and without information the rescuers of the reason for remaining submerged).
It was not until the Triton reached the U.S. again in early May 1960 (and after meeting with President Dwight Eisenhower) that Beach learned for the first time of the failure of another American project -- the crash of its high-flying reconnaissance plane, the U-2, over the Soviet Union, and the capture of the U-2's pilot, Gary Powers.
For Beach and his men, however, the devastating effect of the U-2 failure was tempered by the sweetness of homecoming. And by the chagrin of learning that the Latin inscription of a plaque designed by the crew members to commemorate the voyages of both the Triton and Magellan, and intended to be presented to Magellan's native Spain, contained a misspelled word. A replacement plaque was hurriedly made, but "the Log of our journey had been made public by the Navy Department," Beach wrote, "and, of course, our error was plain for anyone to see. But only one person, a woman Latin teacher, very courteously and tactfully wrote to point out the mistake."
Although in the current era of virtually instantaneous information, the degree of secrecy of the Triton's voyage seems almost unimaginable, Beach's book stands as a monument to another era as well as to the courage and ingenuity of a captain and his crew, a historic record, and an introduction to lives lived beneath the waves.
January 22, 2010
Captain Beach, was one of the most amazing men I ever met. His style of writing made me want to read more and more about World War Two submarines and the men who sailed on them.
October 10, 2014
This reads like a ship's log, which is great. But among Beach's books it's not my favorite (That would be "Cold is the Sea".)
June 18, 2023
This was a great story of adventure and problem solving for the crew of the USS Triton.
May 7, 2019
Great Submarine Story!
I’ve enjoyed Edward Beach’s novels since I was a youngster. This differs from his more well known stories in that it’s a chronicle of the first submerged circumnavigation of the world. His exciting novels are all based on his own experience, but they are fiction. I enjoyed this true story as much as any of the many others I have read about the submarine service. I would also highly recommend reading William R. Anderson’s book about the first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, navigating submerged under the North Pole in 1958.
I’ve enjoyed Edward Beach’s novels since I was a youngster. This differs from his more well known stories in that it’s a chronicle of the first submerged circumnavigation of the world. His exciting novels are all based on his own experience, but they are fiction. I enjoyed this true story as much as any of the many others I have read about the submarine service. I would also highly recommend reading William R. Anderson’s book about the first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, navigating submerged under the North Pole in 1958.
June 27, 2015
Fantastic book! Filled with very interesting log entries of the voyage both human and mechanical. I found out I could not put this book down until I finish reading it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews