It’s hard to picture the whole significance of the Northwest Passage on a flat map. One needs to break out the globe to appreciate how far North and how short the path actually is. It’s a minor point but our guys graded an airstrip during WW II on Greenland to refuel fighter planes that could then “hedge hop” to Europe. That was the beginning of the “Over the Pole” air route to Europe. Even now we fly from the US West Coast, Portland/Seattle, over Greenland, to get to Frankfurt,Germany.