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From
the early 1950’s to the present day, but particularly during the Cold
War, the submarines of the US Navy patrolled the world’s oceans to serve
as a deterrent and as an early warning in the event of war with
threatening powers especially the old Soviet Union. Nowhere were the
weather conditions and the patrols more arduous than those in the North
Atlantic and
Barents Sea
.
During
this entire period there were always submarines on station watching the
breakout areas around the north of
Finland
and
Norway
and through the Greenland,
Iceland
, United Kingdom (GIUK) gap.
This
work shows the USS Greenfish (SS-351) in its Guppy III configuration in
the mid-1960s as she keeps watch in a choppy cold ocean during a coming
storm.
These
diesel electric submarines spent the majority of their time on the surface
or snorkeling. Many times during their 45 to 60 day patrols the
weather was so rough they ran on the surface with the snorkel mast up to
keep from taking water down the main induction. It was always cold
and mostly choppy with frequent storms. But for nearly fifty years
there were always at least two and most of the time four US Submarines
patrolling this part of the world. Every time the
Soviet Union
’s Navy would deploy they knew we were watching and trailing.
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