http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3739
First nuclear submarine U.S.S. Nautilus visits Seattle and crew
secretly buys Bar's Leak on June 3, 1958.

On June 3, 1958, the U.S.S. Nautilus, the world's first nuclear
submarine, visits Everett and Seattle. In Seattle, crewmen dressed in
civilian clothing secretly buy 140 quarts of the automotive product
Bar's Leak (originally identified as Stop Leak -- see comment in
Sources below) to repair a leaking condenser system. The Nautilus is
enroute to the North Pole on a Top Secret mission to cross the North
Pole submerged.

The Nautilus was commissioned in 1954 and featured a nuclear power
plant instead of the usual combination of diesel engines and battery-
powered electric motors. The Nautilus was capable of remaining
underwater without the necessity of surfacing to recharge the
batteries and without refueling. U.S. Navy leaders realized the
military importance of the Arctic Ocean in the Cold War. The Arctic is
covered with ice year round, but navigation under the ice was a
possibility. The Nautilus was ordered to transit the North Pole
underwater in a Top Secret mission dubbed Operation Sunshine.

On June 2, 1958, the Nautilus arrived in Everett and spent the night
there. The following day, with a load of dignitaries and journalists,
the submarine ran to Seattle and docked at Pier 91. A leaking
condenser unit threatened the secret mission to the North Pole, but
security concerns and time precluded repairs through the usual
channels. Experts hit on the idea of using Bar's Leak, an automotive
stop-leak product developed for leaking radiators.

Commander William Anderson ordered crewmen to change into civilian
clothing. The men fanned out across Seattle in taxicabs to buy cans of
Bar's Leak at local service stations.

The sailors in mufti returned with 140 quarts of Bar's Leak, half of
which was poured into the condenser. The leak stopped.

Just after midnight on June 9, 1958, the Nautilus cast off and headed
north. While running on the surface in Puget Sound, the crew painted
out the large numbers on the sail (conning tower) and the bow to
conceal the sub's identity.

In the Chukchi Sea, Commander Anderson ran into heavy ice and a
shallow bottom (at the time the floor of the Arctic was not mapped),
and broke off the mission. Later in the summer, the Nautilus
successfully crossed the Arctic, completely under water.

The event received worldwide publicity and changed the complexion of
the Cold War. The crew was celebrated with a tickertape parade in New
York City and President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded the Nautilus the
Presidential Unit Citation. Commander Anderson revealed the Seattle
episode in his book Nautilus -90- North, published the following
year.

The condenser unit aboard the Nautilus never leaked again.

Sources:
Commander William R. Anderson with Clay Blair Jr., Nautilus 90 North
(Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Co., 1959), pp. 133-137;
Commander William R. Anderson with Clay Blair Jr., Nautilus 90 North
(New York: The New American Library, 1959), 89-90; Clayton Parks, of
Bar's Products to David Wilma, Deputy Director, www.historylink.org,
email communication, April 8, 2003; Henry Londean, "Sub Nautilus Here
On Last Year's 'Gas,'" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 4, 1958, p.
30. Note: In the hardcover first printing of his book, Commander
Anderson named the product in question Stop Leak. In the subsequent
New American Library (Signet Key Book) paperback edition, he corrected
the name of the product to Bar's Leak. The firm Bar's Products
produces Bar's Leak. By David Wilma, April 2, 2002
Corrected April 9, 2003