Chief of the Watch

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I first qualified COW in July, 1974, when the Drum was in the Puget Sound Washington area. One of my first COW watches I remember that Capt. Tarquin came to periscope depth and checked the area out. He then ordered Drum deep, and I suspected a drill was coming. Sure enough, over the 4MC was "Flooding in the Engine Room". The depth that we were at required me (COW) to initiate an "Emergency Blow", so I hit the "chicken switches" and up we came. It is quite a thrill to ride a 4000 ton sub up from the deep, and have it jump almost half its length out of the water. It is also quite reassuring that you can get up in a hurry.

Revised: November 22, 2008