July 29, 2026
20,000 Leagues Under the Tea
60 Years Ago, a Submerged Submarine Circled the Globe for the First Time (2020)
World tour, zero fresh air — and the comments turned it into a debate about boredom, bragging rights, and exploding toilets
TLDR: In 1960, USS Triton became the first submarine to go around the world mostly underwater, proving nuclear power changed what subs could do. Commenters were split between awe at the engineering and crew discipline, and nitpicking whether it truly counts when periscopes popped up — with jokes about boredom, cramped bunks, and exploding toilets stealing the show.
Sixty years ago, the U.S. Navy sent the USS Triton around the world without really coming up for air, a huge flex in the early nuclear age. The big deal was simple: older submarines had to spend lots of time on the surface because they ran on engines that needed air. Triton showed a new kind of sub could stay hidden underwater for an entire patrol, circling the globe in 1960 and changing naval history. Cool? Absolutely. But the commenters quickly turned this from a victory lap into a delicious argument over what “underwater” really means.
One camp was full of awe, calling nuclear submarines an almost unreal feat and comparing the crews to monks or yogis because of the discipline, isolation, and psychological pressure. Another camp immediately hit the brakes: hold on, they said, this was not perfectly submerged the whole time if the crew kept raising periscopes for navigation and photos. Suddenly the heroic world-first came with an asterisk, and history nerds were out here doing fact-check combat.
But the funniest reactions were the most human. One commenter remembered old satire about ordinary sailors trapped in a metal tube with bunk beds, boredom, terror, and toilets that explode. Another said their dad barely talked about sub duty because it was maybe less action movie, more “sit under the ice cap for three months.” That contrast is the real comment-section gold: the article sells epic Cold War adventure, while the crowd keeps yelling, “Sure, but imagine the smell.”
Key Points
- •The article says nuclear propulsion allowed submarines to remain underwater indefinitely, unlike earlier diesel-electric submarines that spent much of their time on the surface.
- •Operation Sandblast in 1960 used USS Triton to demonstrate that a nuclear-powered submarine could complete a global patrol almost entirely submerged.
- •USS Triton left New London, Connecticut, on February 16, 1960, returned on April 25, and completed a submerged circumnavigation route of 26,723 nautical miles.
- •During the voyage, Triton also conducted oceanographic work, including releasing hydrographic bottles and mapping the ocean floor with sonar and a fathometer.
- •Triton served only 11 years, and after the radar picket submarine concept faded, it was decommissioned in 1968; its sail is now displayed in Benton, Washington.