Crossing of the Arctic Circle (66-32 North latitude). Also known as the "Northern Domain of the Polar Bear" or "Blue Nose."
53 Members

You need to be a member of Navy Veterans to add comments!

Join Navy Veterans

Comments are closed.

Comments

  • Crossed the Arctic Circle on 9/20/1960 while on board the USS Abbot DD629

  • Crossed into the Arctic circle as an RM with Commander Landing Ship Squadron 7, embarked in the USS Chittenden County, LST 561.  We had rounded Point Barrow and were waiting to rendezvous with 7 commercial ships and got frozen in.  An USCG and Navy icebreaker came in to get us out.  As we proceeded to replenish th DEWLine sites, we took a piece of polar ice down the port side which ripped a hole 18" wide and 22 feet long thru the fuel tanks.  The USS Grapple put a diver in the water (brrrrrrr) and examined the damage.  We finished the mission with no problems.  We were told to continue on thru the Nortwest passage, but Commodore W.L. Kitch said he had been away from his family long enough (he was a hot shit submarine officer during WWII) and we returned to Long Beach. 

    Second replenishment in 1957 was uneventful except for the crew trading .22 rifle bullets, potatoes, sweaters, etal for eskimo furs.  If you know the fact that they use urine to cure the furs, you will know why this was not a good idea.

  • Crossed the Circle on the USS Macon CA132  during a NATO op in '60. 

  • Received my Blue Nose while serving on the USS Chemung AO-30 on September 1st 1962

  • Got my Blue Nose while serving at Andoya, Norway in March, 1989, on one of the coldest days of the year, along with 30 other sailors and discovered that "ditch swimming" with a sardine in my mouth was as "interesting" as it gets. Great experience and treasure my Blue Nose Certificate.

  • I crossed in March 1971 on the USS Will Rogers (SSBN 659), the last of the original boomers.

  • I was a member of the Ships Company of the USS Newport News CA-148 on a NATO Operation Teamwork Cruise. We sailed through the Iceland Faeroe Gap to the Norwegian Sea, at the Arctic Circle in October 1964.


  • I crossed on August 29th 1986 and once again on September 13th 1987 onboard the USS Mount Whitney LCC-20.

  • Anyone looking for "BLUE NOSE" patches- you can order them at Submarineshop.com - they have two styles of patches # P006 and P050. FYI- they are hard to get. They run $7.00 each.

  • I crossed on September 20, 1960 aboard the Destroyer USS ROOKS DD-804. ASW was the mission.

This reply was deleted.

Blue Nose patches

I sell two types.  See at:  http://submarineshop.com/img/full/p006.jpg for the Northern Run patch and the same url except change the 006 to 050 for the Blue Nose patch. I have talked with Richard H. just last evening on the phone. Ron

Read more…
0 Replies