Stan noticed that there were only about a dozen enlisted men gathered together rather than the whole class. “Why only some of them?” he wondered. “Sub won’t hold many more, in addition to the regular crew,” March said. “And now these boys are really beginning to team up. You know how we’ve had it drilled into us already that teamwork is the most important part of submarining? Well, they’ve started to put their teams together. This bunch is a diving section—just enough men for one shift on a sub to handle everything that needs to be handled. They’ll work together all through the course, get to know each other, to work well together.” “What if one of the men fails the course?” Stan asked. “There’s Marty Cobden, for instance. If he doesn’t manage to overcome that fear of the escape tower he’s through.” “Then they’ll have to replace him,” March said. “But that will be just one man out of the section—or maybe two at most will not be able to make it. Well, the majority of the team is still intact. The new man can fit into a well-functioning team pretty fast.” “Will they eventually go out on duty together?” Stan asked. “Probably,” March replied. “When a sub gets three diving sections that have trained together, then it’s got a real crew. Of course, they usually try to put in just one new section with two old ones, men who’ve been through the ropes. The new section, already used to teamwork, fits in with the experienced men well, and learns so much from them that they’re veterans after one patrol.” “What about us officers, though?” Stan wondered. “Maybe there’s a chance we’ll go on the same sub.” “Maybe,” March agreed. “They may put two new officers on a sub with three or four veterans. Probably no more, though. Look, here comes the Chief!” In a few minutes they were all walking down toward the docks where the old O-type submarines used as trainers lay bobbing gently in the waters of the Thames River. March saw that some of the crew were busy about the deck of one of the subs, to which a narrow gangplank led from the dock. As they walked, the Chief Petty Officer was talking to the students. “When it’s in the water,” he said, “you can’t see much of a sub. The flat deck is just a superstructure built up on top of the cigar-shaped hull. You can see part of the hull itself where the superstructure sides slope down into it. But most of it’s under water, where it ought to be on a pigboat.” March’s eyes were going over the long slim craft swiftly, not missing a detail. He saw the fins on the side at bow and stern, folded back now, but able to be extended so as to make the planes which could guide the ship up or down. He noted the looming conning tower which served as a bridge for the officers when the pigboat traveled on the surface. From there, he knew, a hatch led down into the center section of the ship. He saw, too, that the fore and aft hatches were open, one leading down into the torpedo room and another into the engine room.