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Endless, ever-moving ice, bone-chilling cold and the risk of coming across the occasional polar bear are just a few features describing the remote landscape of the Arctic Circle, where a temporary naval command center known as Ice Camp Whale sits on the ice floe.
It’s also the site of Fox News host Bill Hemmer’s latest adventure.
The “America’s Newsroom” co-anchor’s frosty assignment takes him to the region to “chill” with sailors and scientists behind the three-week-long research operation to discover how the U.S. Navy works in such extreme conditions.
BILL HEMMER BOARDS USS HAMPTON NUCLEAR SUBMARINE IN ARCTIC CIRCLE IN LATEST FOX NATION SPECIAL
Fox News Bill Hemmer holds American flag near Ice Camp Whale. (Fox Nation/Bill Hemmer)
“You’re on about a two-by-three mile piece of ice. We’re anywhere between 9-to-18ft thick on this patch that you’re on here,” Howard Reese, the ice camp’s director and the Arctic Submarine Laboratory director, told Hemmer in the Fox Nation special “Battle for the Arctic.”
The icy runway that welcomed Hemmer’s plane, Reese said, is approximately three-and-a-half to four feet thick with over 13,000 feet of frigid seawater underneath.
“So you’re in deep water here,” he quipped.
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Fox News’ Bill Hemmer journeyed to the Arctic Circle to get a firsthand look at military operations in subzero temperatures at Ice Camp Whale. (Fox Nation)
Hemmer’s special takes Fox Nation subscribers through the process of gearing up to face the cold – donning multiple layers of clothes, goggles, a parka, a face guard, gloves and more.
Hemmer also went aboard the USS Hampton, a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine equipped with the ability to crack through the ice when surfacing, to spend a full day learning more about military operations, the crew and even the natural resources many nations – including Russia and the U.S. – see as up-for-grabs in the region.
Among those resources are minerals, gas and oil.
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Video“In all seriousness, there are so many stories happening in what is considered the Earth’s final frontier,” Hemmer said of the special during a recent appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered.”
“Whether it involves the U.S. and Russia or, now, the U.S., Russia and potentially China,” he continued.
One naval commander told Hemmer that Russia views the area as “their backyard,” adding, “they would love nothing more than to take claim to the entire Arctic region. It’s full of resources. The trade routes are opening more and more each year. They consider this a place that they have dominance.”
To get a deeper scoop into Hemmer’s Arctic Circle adventure, sign up for Fox Nation and begin streaming “Battle for the Arctic” today.
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VideoTaylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
