Operation Sandblast belongs to a longer tradition of world cruises by major navies, including the Great White Fleet and Royal Navy imperial cruises. Those earlier voyages made reach visible through ships, formations, and port calls. Triton's submerged circumnavigation answered doubts about navies in the nuclear age by demonstrating that the US Navy could operate globally while remaining hidden. Its diplomatic effect rested on uncertainty: other states could not know where a nuclear submarine might be watching them. The mission therefore paired national prestige with the threat implied by an invisible naval presence.
Chapter · 7:27-14:24
Operation Sandblast as invisible naval presence
The global submerged voyage is framed as a Cold War presence mission that advertised US naval reach precisely because outsiders could not see it happen.