USS Triton became the first submarine to complete a submerged voyage around the world.
In 1960, the United States Navy’s USS Triton completed Operation Sandblast, a circumnavigation based on the route of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition. Triton remained submerged for the voyage, demonstrating the endurance, navigation, and strategic reach made possible by nuclear propulsion.
The journey covered more than 36,000 nautical miles and lasted about two months. Triton’s crew navigated without the routine visual references available to surface ships, relying on instruments and celestial observations made through the periscope or other specialized methods when necessary.
The achievement is sometimes mixed up with USS Nautilus’s Arctic record. Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine and the first vessel to reach the geographic North Pole beneath the ice. Triton’s distinction was global circumnavigation while submerged, a feat made practical by its large nuclear-powered design and long endurance.