on the surface, we will always be in a 'prepared to dive' condition That means all hatches except the one here will be secured, and that we will be making sufficient headway so that the sub's diving planes will have effect in case we have to make an emergency dive " They had, during the voyage, exchanged technical lore Whittaker had been surprised to learn that the diving planes on the Drum functioned like the ailerons of an airplane, controlling up and down movement of the submerged submarine He knew that because of the dynamic forces acting upon the diving planes, the faster a submarine was moving across the surface of the ocean, the quicker it could be submerged "In other words. Skipper," Whittaker said, "a dry run is a lousy ideal'" "In these waters, if I follow the SOP," Lennox said, "what I get is a boat ready to make a dive, and a crew of sweat-soaked, temperature-exhausted sailors not only getting on each other's nerves, but not able to function fast when they have to. So what I do is leave the hatches open when I can in waters like these, stationing men by the hatches to close them if they have to, and I make damned sure my lookout has the eyes of a hawk."
"And to conduct a dry run would mean stopping the boat," Whittaker said, "increasing the time it would take you to submerge if a Jap plane spotted you."
Lennox nodded "Spotted us" Whittaker shrugged "Okay if that's--" Lennox interrupted him "Another unpleasant situation that comes to mind," he said, "is us sitting on the surface a half mile or so offshore of Mindanao, and unable to submerge because there's a trio of Army guys in rubber boats with outboard motors they can't start."
Whittaker looked at him but didn't say anything.
"And while I am being the high priest of doom and gloom," Lennox said, "I have another scenario There we are off Mindanao, and we get the boats out of the torpedo room, blow them up, and they leak Since I can think of no other way to get those heavy little boxes ashore, that would mean we would have come all this way only to have to go all the way back for more rubber boats."
"I'd like to add to that gloom-and-doom scenario, if I might, Sir," Whittaker said.
"Go ahead, Jim," Lennox said "We are on the surface off Mindanao, the boats have inflated properly, and the outboards have even started Then the Army guys--whose total experience with rubber boats is limited to Lieutenant Hammersmith's time with an inner tube in a swimming pool--start loading those heavy boxes into the rubber boats and drop the boxes over the side, fall overboard themselves, and I'll let you figure out the rest yourself."
"You've had no training?
"Lennox asked, surprised and concerned.
"No, Sir," Whittaker said.
"There wasn't time."
"Well, then," Lennox said, "the question is not ;/ we do a dry run, but when."
"I think, if it's possible," Whittaker said, "we should."
Lennox looked at Whittaker.
If I hadn't been so obliging, he wondered, would you have pulled the rank the COMSUBFORPAC orders give you?
"You told me, Jim," he said, "that to a pilot, darkness rises from the ground."
"Yes, Sir, it does."
"Then I think we should do the dry run tomorrow, at dusk," Lennox said.
"Thank you, Skipper."
The day had been spent preparing for the dry run. This was mostly a good thing for the boat, Lennox realized, though it was risky. The morale of the crew was helped by the chance not only to do something constructive, but to get out on deck. The risk of being spotted by a Japanese patrol plane was no greater with them there, but submerging would take longer because of the people and the equipment on deck.
Lennox posted extra lookouts and ordered the manning of the machine gun and Bofors cannon. He didn't plan to use them, but it gave their crews a chance to get on deck and to feel useful, and he decided the price, the extra forty-five or sixty seconds it would take the gun crews to drop through the hatches and close them, was worth it.
The rubber boats themselves, as Lennox had supposed they would, posed the greatest problems. If the chief of the boat, who by default became the rubber boat expert, had any thoughts about the idiocy of sending people with no training or experience with rubber boats to make a landing through the surf on an enemy-held shore, he kept them to himself.
The first problem was to get the boats from the forward torpedo room through the hatch and onto the deck. The chief of the boat considered his options and decided that because of the weight and ungainly bulk it would make more sense to uncrate them below and pass them through the hatch, despite the risk that they would be impaled and torn on something sharp on the way.
The boats, which carried their own air bottles, were designed to be inflated with the bottles. Even if the boats were thrown over the side un inflated and sank, if the pull cord for the air bottles was pulled, the boats would inflate and pop to the surface.
Although spare air bottles had been provided, the chief of the boat decided that the smart thing to do was not to use the bottles until it was necessary. He called for the air hose normally used to charge the air bottles in torpedoes, and when he had the first boat unrolled and lying limp on the deck, filled it with compressed air.
When that boat was expanded, he ran soapy water over it to check for leaks. When he found none, he opened the exhaust valves, and as they hissed and the boat collapsed, he looked at it thoughtfully.
Then he went aft and stood with his hands on his hips and spoke with Lennox and Whittaker, who were on the bridge.
"Two things. Skipper," he said.
"Go ahead, Chief," Lennox said.
"I think we could stow the boats aft of the conning tower," the chief of the boat said.