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‘In skating over thin ice our safety is our speed.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
Emerson would probably agree that speed—and stealth—are significant safety factors beneath thick ice as well as over thin. A group of polar bears approach the bow of the fast attack submarine USS Honolulu (SSN-718) in October 2003, when the sub was surfaced 280 miles from the North Pole. The bears investigated the interloper for almost two hours before moving on.
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