In preparing for the Ice Expedition Delmar David "Pete" Rodgers sent along the following recollections:

"During September through November, 1959 (shortly after Tom Curtiss, the North American Aviation [NAA] Representative for the N6B Inertial Navigation System [INS], was onboard the Nautilus as she became the first to go under the pole) our engineering test group was putting together the Sargo INS to be tested under the watchful eye of Navy representatives. I did not work on the boat itself but rather I worked for NAA as the Lead Technician overseeing about 16 techs (Note - it would later became Autonetics that made hundreds of SINS [Ships Inertial Navigation Systems] that would be used on all nuclear submarines).

"At that time the engineering techs had to be versatile in any number of mechanical, electrical and optical system disciplines. I and about 7 top techs of my choosing were tasked to check out and test every panel or assembly that would become part of the system. Unlike the system used to go under the pole aboard Nautilus I received bits and pieces of equipment with no evidence of documentation or status. With 15 years of experience working and directing technicians in the repair and use of just about any test equipment used at that time and working 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week for over three months we were able to dig out the required test specs for the associated gear. In short, we demonstrated to the Navy that the associated equipment required for the N6 INS met system specifications. The individual hardware components were then turned over for system testing, configured into a working system, and sold to the Navy.

"The most demanding test of the Sargo system was the evaluation of the 50 Hz supply. It contained a temperature controlled 200 KHz oscillator. The 200 KHz output was divided down o 50.00 Hz and then doubled several times to get 400 Hz. This 400 Hz was used to excite the Gyro's. A part of the test was to run the 200 KHz oscillator for 8 hours with the output connected a huge HP frequency counter. The frequency counter could only read up to 200,000 Hz. According to the military spec we were required to have 10 times the accuracy as the frequency you are measuring or to 0.1 HZ. The 200 KHz oscillator could only deviate less than +/- 1.0 Hz for the 8 hour period. To get around it we placed the counter into the "Gate" mode. It would measure the frequency for 10 seconds and then give a 10 second average to 0.1 Hz. It was required that each 10 second gate average be monitored continually. I would not trust anyone else to perform this test (or felt more assured if I did it myself) so I was there for the entire test. The Quality Control representative soon got bored and he would walk away and come back. He would look at his watch and say, yep right on, and I would scratch my head wondering. After the 6th hour it dawned on me he was timing the 10 second gate time, not reading the frequency. I have never fudged a test in my life but in a way I did this one. The test results were perfect but there was no damn way I was going to start it over for that idiot.

"He signed it off and we all went home.

"I thought you might like to know who was responsible for keeping you on course. I have always felt part of your group, if I am permitted to say that. I read with great satisfaction about the success of the Sargo, and the number of times it surfaced at the pole. My part probably seems insignificant but it meant a lot to me and my crew. I was totally surprised that I received this assignment. One would have thought it would have been given to a full engineer, even though I had no misgivings about accepting the assignment. I think it boiled down to one day the manager who assigned the task to me called me over. I had a reputation as a good TV repair person. He had a large schematic of his TV in hand. He told me he was having problems and that the symptoms involved the Vertical output. I looked at the schematic and I pointed to a coupling capacitor going to the grid of the Vertical output tube. I said this capacitor is famous for leaking DC and it affects the grid bias on the output tube resulting in inadequate vertical deflection. A few days later he was waving at me from out of his office so I went in and he said it fixed it. I had forgotten all about our previous conversation and said "What?" He reminded me "That capacitor, I replaced it and my TV works." I don't know why but after that he always held me in high esteem."