UK and U.S. Submariners to Play North Pole Soccer

LONDON (Reuters) - Two nuclear submarines, one British and one American, surfaced near the North Pole on Monday for an impromptu game of soccer, Britain's Royal Navy said.

The two vessels surfaced through two naturally occurring gaps in the ice about half a mile from each other after completing a joint underwater exercise.

 

"The crews of HMS Tireless and USS Hampton are gearing up for a game of football," Commander John Parris said.

 

"It will probably be English football (soccer) since I doubt our lot know much about playing American football," Parris told Reuters from Portsmouth in southern England. "I expect there will also be the mother of all snowball fights."

 

In addition to the military element both ships were carrying scientists interested in tracking signs of global warming.

 

The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, was the first vessel to navigate under the North Pole in 1958.