Calling on Santa in a nuclear sub

Rear Adm. Charles J. Leidig has something very exciting to tell kids: He has been to where Santa lives.

Seriously, he indeed successfully led an expedition in 1995 to the North Pole aboard USS Cavalla (SSN 684), a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine.

“I actually went to the North Pole. I took my submarine,” Leidig told his audience during a recent Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting.

“It’s a difficult maze,” he recalls, noting that he is thrilled by the experience even now since only a few people have been able to reach the northernmost point of the planet.

The first expedition to the North Pole was allegedly led by Navy engineer, Anglo-American Robert Edwin Peary and his staff on April 6, 1901 but in 1996, it was said that Peary must have been 20 nautical miles short of the pole.

The first undisputed sight of the pole was in 1926 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his American sponsor from the airship Norge.

Other expeditions were on May 3, 1952 by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph P. Benedict and Lt. William P. Benedict; Aug. 3, 1958 by USS Nautilus SSN-571 and on March 17, 1959 by the USS Skate (SSN-578), which surfaced at the pole, becoming the first naval vessel to reach it.

Other visitors were Ralph Plaisted, the first confirmed surface conquest of the North Pole on April 19, 1968, and the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika on Aug. 17, 1977. On April 6, 1992, Robert Schumann became the youngest person in history to go to the North Pole at age 10. He also went to the South Pole (at age 11). This put him in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The potential value of the North Pole and the area around it lies in the possible potential petroleum and gas below the underlying seabed, the exploration for which in the near future might become more feasible after the opening of the Northwest Passage.

The North Pole lies in the Arctic Ocean.

Leidig’s USS Cavalla Ice Expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 1995 carried civilian scientists. His trip to the north came a year after he assumed command of the submarine.

Under his command USS Cavalla earned two Meritorious Unit Commendations and in 1996 was awarded the Navy Battle Efficiency ‘E,’ Engineering Excellence ‘E,’ and Tactical Operations Excellence ‘T.’

In 1999, he served as commander of the Submarine Development Squadron Five where he was the operational commander for the Navy’s Deep Submergence Program and the Tactical Development Authority for the Submarine Force’s off-hull sensors, Arctic warfare and submarine rescue and escape programs.

In his remarks before the Chamber, Leidig also told them of his Sept. 11, 2001 experience as a national military officer at Pentagon. He said he was right next to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was directing the actions of the military.

Leidig, who exhibited a friendly and pleasant personality during his presentation, said that U.S. Naval Forces Marianas “is here to help the U.S. military win the global war on terror.”

He said that this war is most likely to last this century. “We are fighting [this war] for our children and our grandchildren,” he said.

Leidig graduated in 1978 with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.

In 1994, he earned a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and 2001, completed the National Security Management Program at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Leidig’s operational tours include service in both attack and ballistic missile submarines. He served on USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN 655), USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN 635), USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN 634), and as executive officer on USS Pogy (SSN 647).

He received the David Lloyd Leadership Award and the L.Y. Spear Award upon completion of the Submarine Officer Advanced Course.

His staff assignments include service as material officer on Submarine Squadron Eleven staff, as senior member of the Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, as assistant deputy director for Regional Operations on the Joint Staff and as executive assistant to the director of the Joint Staff, and two tours at the U.S. Naval Academy as an instructor and later as the 80th Commandant of Midshipmen.

Leidig’s personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (three awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal (four awards), and the Navy Achievement Medal, along with other unit and service awards.

Prior to his COMNAVMAR assignment, he was in Annapolis, Md., where he served as commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy.

COMNAVMAR serves as the Defense Representative to U.S. Pacific Fleet and is the regional coordinator for all shore-based naval personnel and shore activities in Guam.

Leidig assumed command of the regional base in June 2005. His areas of jurisdiction covers Guam, the CNMI, Palau, and the Federal State of Micronesia—Yap, Chuuk, Phonpei, and Kosrae.