Isaac Schlossbach " Isaac " Ike " Schlossbach " ( c . August 20 , 1891 – August 1984 ) was an American polar explorer , submariner and aviation pioneer . He was born in Bradley Beach , New Jersey and raised in Neptune Township , New Jersey where he attended Neptune High School . Military career . In 1911 , Schlossbach became the first Jewish midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , winning letters in football and wrestling . He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1915 and volunteered to go to the first submarine school . During World War I , he commanded submarines in the Mediterranean . In 1921 , after the end of the war , Schlossbach joined the aviation branch of the United States Navy . He was first to be sent to lighter - than - air flying school ( dirigibles ) . In 1922 , he learned to fly fixed - wing aircraft . By 1925 , then Lieutenant Commander Schlossbach was leading an aero squadron . He first commanded the squadron that flew the record South American flight , and then the first squadron to serve on the first aircraft carrier , the USS " Langley " . Schlossbach had trouble with his left eye , and the Navy assigned him to the Naval Academy , teaching engineering and aviation and coaching the football team . In 1930 at the age of 38 , Lieutenant Commander Schlossbach was forced to retire from the Navy on a medical discharge when he lost his eye . Just before U . S . entry into World War II , Schlossbach headed a small radio / meteorological team that founded the airport at Fort Chimo ( Crystal I ) in Labrador on 10 October 1941 . Out of retirement , he further distinguished himself while assigned to Guadalcanal . Arctic and Antarctic exploration . Schlossbach went on twelve polar expeditions , three to the Arctic and nine to the Antarctic . He was on the Wilkins Trans - Arctic Expedition in 1931 and served as navigator on the USS " Nautilus " , the first attempt to take a submarine to the North Pole under the icepack . He commanded Admiral Richard Byrd ' s ship the " Bear of Oakland " and was a pilot on Byrd ' s Second Antarctic Expedition ( 1933 – 35 ) . He was the second in command on the MacGregor Arctic Expedition ( 1937 – 38 ) where he accomplished a number of polar aviation firsts . In 1939 , he accompanied Byrd again to the Antarctic on the United States Antarctic Service Expedition . After World War II , Schlossbach was second in command on the last privately funded Antarctic expedition , the 1946 - 1948 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition . He commanded the 1200 - ton diesel - powered wooden tug " Port of Beaumont " , which was frozen into Back Bay through the winter . He also accompanied Finn Ronne to a cape in the Weddell Sea , which was named after him . as is a mountain . Schlossbach accompanied an Australian research expedition to Ellsworth Station Antarctica in 1955 , for which he received a letter of commendation from the Australian government . In 1956 , Admiral Byrd selected Ike as his personal representative on Operation Deep Freeze . Schlossbach accompanied Byrd on several other occasions and made his last trip to the Antarctic as a consultant to the United States Navy in 1961 when he was 70 years old . He was awarded three for his contributions to Antarctic exploration . Other accomplishments . Before World War II , Schlossbach founded the Asbury Park Air Terminal , originally known as Schlossbach Field ( also known as Gibson Air Academy ) . His adventures took him around the world , to the South Pacific , New Zealand , Australia , the Philippines , South America as well as to the Arctic and Antarctica . He never married and died in 1984 at the age of 93 .