[1][2] In 1911, Schlossbach became the first Jewish midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, winning letters in football and wrestling.

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.

He was on the Wilkins Trans-Arctic Expedition in 1931 and served as navigator on USS Nautilus, the first attempt to take a submarine to the North Pole under the icepack.

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.