WASHINGTON, Oct. 1--The nuclear submarine Seawolf has smashed the underwater record and is now aiming at staying down 60 days, almost double the old mark.
President Eisenhower said today the Seawolf had been submerged for 54 days and is still going strong.
The Navy later said the submarine would sail into her home port of New London, Conn., next Monday afternoon.
If she comes up Monday noon, the Seawolf will have been below the Atlantic Ocean's surface for exactly 60 days. The submarine sailed on Aug. 5, went down two days later to begin what the Navy then described only as a "routine environmental test."
Tuesday, the Navy radioed the Seawolf some questions. Cmdr. Richard B. Laning, the skipper, replied: At 10:45 a.m., EST, the Seawolf had been submerged continuously, "without any contact with the earth's atmosphere, for 54 days."
Previously, the atomic submarine Skate held the submerged record of 31 days, 5 1/2 hours.
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