The expedition would be led by Admiral Richard E. Byrd. [18], As of 2023, there are 56 states party to the treaty,[2] 29 of which, including all 12 original signatories to the treaty, have consultative (voting) status. Register of Commissiond and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy, 1915. p. 64. In the performance of his duty Rear Admiral Byrd served in the Navy Department and in various areas outside the continental limits of the United States, employed on special missions on the fighting fronts in Europe and the Pacific. Having ushered mechanical Antarctic exploration into the modern era, Byrd leveraged his position in the U.S. Navy and his myriad political connections to win the support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who approved Byrds idea of using government sponsorship to bolster future expeditions. At the ICSU meeting in Stockholm from September 9 to 11, 1957, the creation of a Special Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) was approved, inviting the twelve countries conducting Antarctic investigations to send delegates to integrate the committee, with the purpose of exchanging scientific information among its members regarding Antarctica. Byrd was posthumously eligible for the Antarctic Service Medal, established in 1960, for his participation in the Antarctic expeditions Operation Highjump (1946 to 1947) and Operation Deep Freeze (1955 to 1956). The Navy successfully maneuvered a modern fighting fleet in Antarctic waters, reestablished Little America IV, and completed the jet-assisted (JATO) flight of six R4Ds (Naval C47 Skytrains) from the deck of an aircraft carrier to an unprepared, snow-surface landing field. The United States maintains the southernmost base, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and the largest base and research station in Antarctica, McMurdo Station. Admiral Byrd was interviewed by Lee van Atta of International News Service aboard the expedition's command ship USS Mount Olympus, in which he discussed the lessons learned from the operation. Sir James Clark Ross DCL FRS FLS FRAS 15 April 1800 3 April 1862 was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Letter, Admiral Richard E. Byrd to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen T. Early (1949) 27 September, Box 206, Folder 7328, Byrd Papers; Rose L (2008). [33], Since the designation of the Australian Antarctic Territory pre-dated the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, Australian laws that relate to Antarctica date from more than two decades before the Antarctic Treaty era. 2003; 21:409. Gould, an international figure with 25 honorary degrees and the . This mission was historic, as it was the first time the Atlantic Ocean was crossed by an aircraft. Get a weekly rundown of the Arctics top stories by subscribingto the Institutes newsletter:The Arctic This Week. The Great Depression temporarily froze these self-funded polar ventures. With government resources at Byrds disposal, the polar regions became aspirational sites of global power-projection, technological, scientific, and military testing grounds, and realms of real and imagined claims of territorial sovereignty.13)Doel R, Friedman R, Lajus J, Srlin S & Wrkberg U (2014) Strategic Arctic Science: National Interests in Building Natural KnowledgeInterwar Era Through the Cold War. I want to encourage exactly the debates and fact-finding you see people engage in on that Facebook thread, Boucher added. In all assignments his thoroughness, attention to detail, keen discernment, professional judgment and zeal produced highly successful results. [4] Byrd and Bennett said they reached the North Pole, a distance of 1,535 miles (1,335 nautical miles). From August 26, 1946, and until the beginning of 1947, it carried out Operation Highjump, the largest military expeditionary force that the United States had ever sent to Antarctica, consisting of 13 ships, 4,700 men, and numerous aerial devices. Byrd believed the governments cancellation of the Navys Antarctic initiatives would incur additional consequences. On May 4, 1955, the United Kingdom filed two lawsuits, against Argentina and Chile respectively, before the International Court of Justice to declare the invalidity of the claims of the sovereignty of the two countries over Antarctic and sub-Antarctic areas. False; Hvac Template. There is no evidence that Byrd discovered a secret civilization in his expeditions as claimed in the posts. Some news outlets reported President Trumans rumored dislike of Admiral Byrd as a reason for Highjump IIs cancellation. As a senior officer in the United States Navy, Byrd was recalled on active duty on March 26, 1942, and served as the confidential advisor to Admiral Ernest J. [10] A British detachment remained three months on the island while the frigate patrolled its waters until April. [4] It was the largest Antarctic expedition to date and was expected to last 68 months. Though the 1867 purchase of Alaskan territory from Russia jump-started the United States strategic interest in the Arctic, the earliest American expeditions north of Canada and Siberia never resulted in territorial claims. He also can be said to have contributed more than any one man. Frustrated by parochial American strategic polar planning confined to the Alaskan theater of operations, he argued that with the technological inroads made during Highjump I, the use of Greenlands ice cap for military and civil occupation was no longer a pipedream. With research conducted during Highjump II, glacial highways could be developed for logistics support with improved surface transport equipment; extreme weather missions would simulate war-time operations and conditions; and pilots would learn to make forced landings in Arctic conditions. "Death of Australian astrophysicist an Antarctic whodunnit". During Byrd's assignment to Dolphin, she was commanded by future Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as chief of staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. This was also seen in the film With Byrd at the South Pole (1930), which covered his trip there. Testing military gear in controlled cold-weather conditions was not enough; long-term polar projects were necessary to develop the ways and means of carrying out necessary operations in the Arctic.29)Draft, Presentation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Value of Operation Highjump II to National Defense (Undated) Box 206, Folder 7331, Byrd Papers. Naval Task Force 68a fleet of three Naval Groups overseen by Admiral Byrddeparted Norfolk, Virginia. Isis 104(1): 129. In this service Admiral Byrd exercised fine leadership in gaining the united effort of civilian, Army, and Navy experts. Byrd's Fairchild FC-2W2, NX8006, Stars And Stripes, is on display at the Virginia Aviation Museum located on the north side of the airport, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. "Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, U. S. Navy, was the man who proved the absolute necessity of the airplane in Antarctic research. Byrd's fourth Antarctic expedition was code-named Operation Highjump. Espach R & Samaranayake N (2020) Antarctica is the New Arctic: Security and Strategy in the Southern Ocean. In Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, Byrd and the Little America bases are the final stop in Marian Graves' journey to circle the globe by flight over the North and South Poles. Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888 - 1957) Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. The project included extensive studies of geology, biology, meteorology, and exploration. The name was changed to R.E. Photographic expeditions and geological surveys were undertaken for the duration of that summer, and constant radio communications were maintained with the outside world. Other recipients include Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Charles Lindbergh. Operation Highjump (Undated) Box 207, Folder 7345, Byrd Papers. In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America made Byrd an Honorary Scout, a new category of scout created that same year. The support of the USSR and Chile for the Argentine proposal finally caused the United States to retract its opposition. The danger of the Cold War spreading to that continent caused the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to convene an Antarctic Conference of the twelve countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year, to sign a treaty. Privacy Policy. The men remained at Advance Base until October 12. when an airplane from the base camp picked up Dr. Poulter and Byrd. The war fought through the Arctic during WWII was essentially a tactical weather war waged for control of high-latitude meteorological weather stations whose data could predict patterns affect[ing] crucial operations in the theaters of war in central Europe. In the autumn of 1917, he was sent to naval aviation school at Pensacola, Florida. His ancestors include planter John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas, William Byrd II of Westover Plantation, who established Richmond, as well as William Byrd I and Robert "King" Carter, a colonial governor. Reuters, January 30; Seethi K (2021) Russia, the United States, and Churning Arctic Geopolitics. King. Byrds federal appointment as head of the newly organized United States Antarctic Service in 1938 represented a significant shift in the nations strategic valuation of the earths poles. However, an autopsy in New Zealand revealed that Dr. Marks died from methanol poisoning. While military, economic, and political competition in the Arctic has grown dramatically in recent decades, the effects of climate change and the growing rivalry between the United States, China, and Russia has once more transformed Antarctica into a strategic frontier worthy of renewed attention. The second-southernmost base is the Chinese Kunlun Station at 802502S during the summer season, and the Russian Vostok Station at 782750S during the winter season. Letter, Admiral Richard E. Byrd to Secretary of the Navy Francis P. Matthews (1949) 20 September, Box 206, Folder 7328, Byrd Papers. Byrd completed the Special Mission in December and participated in the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) in 1944-1945. In 1948, the U.S. Navy produced a documentary about Operation Highjump named The Secret Land. Finally, he articulated that more efficient polar radar and weather stations would facilitate land, sea, and air warfare over the top of the world.27)Importance of Operation Highjump to our National Security (1949) Byrd Papers. Collis C & Dodds K (2008) Assault on the Unknown: The Historical and Political Geographies of International Geophysical Year (19578). The Navy moved on. Congress passed a special act on December 21, 1926, promoting him to the rank of commander and awarding both Floyd Bennett and him the Medal of Honor. Senator Harry F. Byrd, a dominant figure in the Virginia Democratic Party from the 1920s until the 1960s; their father served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates for a time. 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