Hey guys, I decided to split the chapter into 2 because otherwise the chapter would have been way too long and I would've lost patience.

"Let's go" I hear myself saying, almost in a trance. Time to start the test. We would start 50 nautical miles away and we had to creep up unnoticed and sink a "ship" (which was really a target being towed by other ships.) And get away unnoticed. We didn't know anything else.

Only the observers knew the full details. Observers hinted that there were a few surprises for us to make it harder.

After traveling 20 miles, we went under.

Finally, the sonar man picked up engines. Ker-chug ker-chug ker-chug ker-chug ker-chug. After what seemed like hours we finally found them. "Ive got engines sounding!" He said. The objective. For the life of me I couldn't remember his name. Ah. James. That's it.

"Where?" I asked. "About 45 degrees sir!" (For those that don't know, submarines have a dial with 360 degrees marked on it counting clockwise. Turning the wheel sends sonar there. 45 degrees would be on your right exactly between next to you and in front of you) on the port side then.

Good. We're were heading to intersect paths. Very good.

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"Periscope up!" I barked. "Half speed ahead, 10 degrees to port!" I commanded. I had the convoy in my sights.

I looked through and... on no. Not me. Why. It wasn't just any convoy. Every once in awhile they make the test a little harder than usual to really put us to the test and how they do that... well, you'll see. I looked through and saw a nightmare. This wasn't any normal convoy. This was a convoy... full of warships. What must have been a carrier, a battleship, a couple of heavy cruisers, and 15 destroyers.

This was madness. How we were expected to pass... as far as I knew only about a few dozen of the hundreds and hundreds had passed this test.

After looking again I saw the target. It was a rather small thing. I'd have to get it close.

We were using test torpedoes. Using normal torpedoes would get expensive fast so these torpedoes were designed to launch a flare after hitting, imitating the fountain of water that splashes up after a torpedoe explodes. After what felt like ages of maneuvering, I  got 700 meters from the target. About 400 away from the closest destroyer. My pulse racing, heart pumping I gave the command for the torpedo.

"FIRE!" Whoosh it said, leaving the tube with a flurry of bubbles, starting on its journey to the target leaving a flurry of bubbles in its wake. I turned to the escorts, taking careful aim. "Fire!" I call. Whoosh I hear again. I fire the other 2 torpedoes.

"Periscope down, just above the surface. As well as back full." I ordered. Hearing the familiar buzz, I let go for a sec. After coming down about a foot, I looked. A few seconds later, I saw it. Because the target was farther away, it took longer to hit meaning the close escort was hit at the same time. Two bright flares launched up, lighting the sky, blindingly bright in seconds, the entire convoy was alert. I winced as I saw another flash. Second escort. The fourth torpedoe missed, speeding by behind the destroyer.

I turned and started giving orders. "Bring us about, flank speed ahead." I called voice cracking.

I looked through just in time to see a fourth flare launch up. What? The fourth torpedoe missed the original target... but hit the carrier behind it. Lucky me. "Sir! Destroyers inbound!" Someone called. I couldn't see who said it. "I see them." I called back.

I remembered the sequence. SHRC (pronounced "search".) Sneak, Hit, Run, Chase. I succeeded the first two. Now I just have to haul it outta there.

Ping. Oh no. My pulse started to race. Adrenaline coursing through my veins. "Sir, destroyers have sonar!" This was getting worse. "DIVE DIVE DIVE" I screamed, voice breaking. We dived, almost 45 degrees. "Level out!" I yelled, seeing the depth. 150ft. Low. "Minimun speed ahead!" I called, looking calm, but freaking out. "Keep us quiet" I called.

Hardly moving, we crawled forward.

Ping. Destroyers. Right above us. Uh oh. If they dropped their mock depth charges we could fail the test. Depth charges are submarine's worst nightmare. There essentially a barrel full of explosives set to explode at a certain depth. The most effective defense against submarines. The mock ones had a sonar head on them and after they reach the depth the sonar would send a weak pulse in every direction. If we were picked up by the mock charge we would fail. After "exploding" they release a set of self inflating air bags, floating to the surface to be collected and reused.

Ping. Still looking for us. We were too deep for them. They started dropping on places they expected us to be. But little did they know, we were deeper than normal. The standard depth was to 50 feet. I dove a extra hundred.

The first mock depth charge finally hit 50 feet and blew its airbags, signaling it had already sent the sonar. We were moving like a snail, but if we were to get away we had to do it. I wanted to scream full ahead but we would have been caught. I realised what the test was really for. Not to test the crew, but the patience, perseverance, the will power of the captain. That's what mattered in combat. The crew did as they were told, it was up to me to tell them.

We slowly started to creep away. Farther and farther from the searching boats. After about half a hour, they gave up and returned to the convoy. We waited about an hour for them to get out of sight.

I stared at the observer, staring him down. "What now?" I asked him. "You passed." He said. "That was amazing sir"he said, "Captain, I'd like to shake your hand." Anderson said. "I have never seen anything like it. What you just did... that was outstanding."

We shook hands, smiling. "You can return to port if you wish." Anderson said. What I did next surprised even me. "No" I told him. He looked up, blown away. "Why not?" He asked.

"I still have eight torpedoes." I briskly told him. "And it just so happens I know where to use them..."