NavList:

Frank Reed you wrote:  How far was Nautilus from the pole (guesses welcome) at that moment when the sub's captain and navigator signed off on that little nav receipt that says latitude 90°00.0'? 

On 26/1/26 I wrote: Would I be correct in thinking that if you can see the Sun, you can check you are at the North Pole within a mile or two, because you have meridian passage conditions 24/7. The Sun’s azimuth is always south and you know you’re at 90N when, after the usual corrections, Alt Sun = Dec Sun (per Hinks)?  Nobody replied

So, if the Sun was visible at 19.15 UTC on 3rd Aug 1958, Commander Anderson should have been measuring Ho =17°29.5' (per ‘Navigator) through the periscope sextant.  He could have sent chaps off over the ice in 3 or 4 directions to check Ho with an artificial horizon like Amundsen did.  The only problem would be if one chap failed to return.  If SSN 571 was way off the Pole, he could have submerged again and use vertical sonics to find a nearer lead. 

Incidentally, USS 571 wasn’t the first submarine named Nautilus to attempt to sail under the North Pole.  Australian Sir Hubert Wilkins had a crack at it in 1931.  See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Wilkins .

I’ll try and suggest SSN 571’s accuracy on first surfacing in a couple of days when I’ve had my thinking cap on. DaveP