Cockpit view of final approach to Nome Airport, along Norton Sound, about 125 miles from the Bering Straits.  Jimmy Doolittle grew up here and he was a pretty tough guy. P-3s staged here for North Sea Route (NSR) patrols in late September and early October, when Soviet ships would take trans-arctic journeys to their Siberian and Pacific ports.  Operating out of Nome gave new meaning to the term “Cold War”.

Cockpit view of the sea ice routinely observed on North Sea Route missions in Septembers and Octobers of the Cold War.  Around 1989 the Navy began issuing Imperial survival suits in case we ever had to ditch in such frigid waters.

This shows a Soviet icebreaker of the Ivan Susanin Class cutting a path through the sea ice leading a string of ships making the North Sea Route (NSR) transfer to the north Pacific through the Chukchi Sea.

Soviet weather reporting icebreaker Georgiy Sedov in the Chukchi Sea in 1986. She was one of two icebreakers converted for such duty, usually working out of the Siberian port of Anadyr.  Our P-3s "rigged"any vessels we encountered while patrolling the sea lanes; photographing, noting location, course, speed and identifying the type of ship.  Note sailor waiving to us on the after deck!

Questions or comments on this page?
E-mail Dr. J David Rogers at rogersda@mst.edu.