Veteran who took part in top secret North Pole mission visits New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — A Navy veteran who took part in a top secret mission at the North Pole more than 65 years ago gave a talk about his experiences at the Fort Taber-Fort Rodman Military Museum Sunday.

Joe Degnan was aboard the U.S.S. Nautilus in 1958 when it travelled under the North pole’s ice caps for Operation Sunshine, a Cold War mission to send a submersible undetected from Hawaii to London.

“It was actually one of the shortest trips underwater that we ever made,” Degnan said. “It was completely submerged.”

The trip was attempted twice before the successful time, but he said that had many technical issues during the first two times.

Degnan, a 23 year Navy veteran, and the other 116 crew members earned the Presidential Unit Citation for the mission.