Gouveia e Melo four days submerged in historic Portuguese submarine mission in the Arctic

During the mission, the Arpão passed the “mythical parallel 66º33’N, which marks the border of the Arctic Circle, something that, like the passage of the Equator, is a relevant mark for all sailors”, highlights the Navy, noting that ” this mark had not yet been reached by Portuguese submariners”.

“In order for it to be possible to fulfill the purpose of sailing under the ice, an intense period of preparation and study was necessary, in which the crew almost had to “relearn” how to operate the ship, since underwater navigation in high latitudes presents environmental, noise conditions and dangers to navigation, such as the existence of icebergs and loose ice, thus forcing many of the normal procedures and techniques normally used by submarines to be adapted when sailing at lower latitudes”, says the Navy statement.

“With the completion of this mission, the NRP Arpão became, if not the first, one of the very few conventional submarines to sail under the ice, an area normally reserved for nuclear-powered submarines. It remained under the ice sheet for a total of about of four (4) days, having also explored the operation in the Marginal Ice Zone, with a high density of loose ice, an area with high tacit value, an area in which no other Western submarine has dared to operate since World War II, with complete success”, adds the statement.