I walk down the gangplank, boarding my ship. There was the other 3 officers waiting for me. "Welcome aboard sir" one of the officers said. Claude Covington, if I remember correctly from the list of the crew. Claude was about average height, 5' 5'' or so. Black hair, Brown eyes, muscular. He looked towards me, sizing me up, reading me. Judging my skills as a leader.

I turned to the next officer, Robert Madsten. Tall about 6' 0", lean, slight build. Brown hair, green eyes. His nose was bent, giving the appearance he didn't know how to duck. He reported the news. "All aboard sir. Crew is ready to drill." Ah. He'd be in charge of the crew. Good to know.

Moving on to the last officer, Charles Nelson. Now he was short, reaching just under 5'.

"Good morning sir" he said, with an oddly deep voice for one so small. "Morning" I replied. I opened the hatch, descending into the ship. I walked through the ship, meeting the crew. Of all the men, most of them were short. It's somewhat required for submarines.

I moved to the command post, picking up the phone that would carry my voice throughout the ship. "Listen up boys, this is your captain speaking. We're hear to practice every drill we can in the next few months before we go on a patrol. At the end of our three months, we will have a test that will decide if we go on patrol. If we fail, we are either another three months drilling, or were a practice submarine for new recruits. Work hard, train hard, pay attention and we'll be perfect. Thank you"

I went up onto the tower, looking around the large, open port full of the assorted warships. Battleships, carriers, frigates, destroyers, more submarines, even a few patrol boats with those dangerous 5 inch turrets. Coming back to reality, I started my commands to exit the dock.

I had 10 extra crew members with me, who would make sure we doing the drills right. One of those said men was right behind me. A man by the last name of Anderson. As you probably noticed, we don't use first names while in port, or at formal occasions. While at sea no one cared so we used first names.

"Half speed ahead" I told the engineer, Charles. Ker-chug ker-chug ker-chug went the engines, beginning to turn the propeller and pushing us forwards with increasing speed. We moved out of our docking spot, moving into the canal. "90 degrees to port (also known as left, for all you land lubbers)" I said, directing the engineer. We turned, rather quickly, towards the mouth of the canal. "Full speed ahead" I said. "Aye aye captain" Charles said. With the increased speed, we went from about seven to just over 10 knots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3 hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Whats our depth?" I asked. "1500 feet sir" a crewman reported. It had been a calm ride out to sea, calm weather, cloudless skies, warm, beating sun. Ill have to watch that, I thought. No sunburn for me. "Let's put her to the test shall we?" I asked, mostly to myself. "Everyone in" I said, starting down the ladder. Anderson, the observer, was the last one down.

"Close that hatch" I told him. He nodded with approval. He was there to test my skills as a captain, and provide a report on it. He reached up, grabbing the handle and turning it until it locked and sealed.

"Bring us under" I said. Like a fish, she angled forwards, diving to 10 feet very quickly. Good. Fast dives could mean life or death. In less than a minute, we were under.

I moved behind and looked through the periscope. Turning in a full circle, I covered the entire 360 degrees of the ship. "Let's get the real fun going eh?" I asked the men by me. "Hooyah sir" (Hooyah is the U.S. Navy call. Marines have Oorah, Army with Hooah, et cetera).

Throughout the rest of the day we did diving/surfacing drills, deck gun practice, torpedoe drills, and pretty much every drill that we need to know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We practiced drills for 3 months, finally able to take our competency test, the one that allowed us to finally patrol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you ready captain?" Anderson said. He was observing me for the test. Another 9 guys were positioned throughout the sub, watching. I'm about to start the test, deciding if I go into combat or not. "Let's start" I say, hands shaking with nervousness. We begin the dreaded test.