From the 1931 expeditions of Sir Hubert Wilkins and the submarine Nautilus to the era of nuclear power boats, a former member of the U.S. Navy's submarine service describes a number of the expeditions under the arctic ice shelf and the scientific and engineering achievements that made them possible. Williams, whose 30-year navy career began in 1927 and included submarine service, opens a modest but valuable history of early U.S. polar submarine operations with the trouble-plagued, pioneering 1931 voyage of Sir Hubert Wilkins' U.S. Navy^-surplus Nautilus . He discusses the little-known polar voyages by conventional submarines in the first decade after World War II before arriving at the famous nuclear-powered Nautilus , her famous first voyage to the North Pole, and the almost equally well known surfacing at that pole of the USS Skate . He also covers less famous voyages and the first under-ice maneuvers by Sargo and Seadragon . Williams' plain writing, based on thorough research that includes interviews with many now-departed navy participants, leaves one hoping only that the eventual declassification of Cold War documents will permit a similar study of submarine operations in the polar regions after 1962. Roland Green Used Book in Good Condition