The sleek, lean warship was knifing the waters at 22 knots. It was like looking at a picture--a moving picture--and all was beautifully distinct. Our commander consulted a card, decided the speed of the warship, and then again propped his head against the reflector. "Raise periscope," ordered the two-striper. For the first time aboard the submarine, there was something akin to silence, except for the swishing of engines and the continuous buzz of other mechanism. "Light to starboard," voiced the captain. "Light to starboard," repeated the helmsman at the compass. "Tube ready?" asked the commander, his head hidden between the black flaps of the periscope. "Tube ready, sir." The officer at the trigger stood like a starter at a race, his finger on the tongue that was to release the torpedo. It was just as it is in the real moment of moments and a war craft is the target. The men at the two wheels watched their dials and their bubbles, and the helmsman had his nose on the needle. The commander, the gold braid on his cuffs streaked with oil and rust, then had but one thought in his mind--to hit the target. He looked neither to right nor left but was still at the periscope. The warship was there. We were there, and one could imagine the tiny periscope just above the water. The situation was tense, even if the vessel to be fired at was not an enemy craft. "Fire!" snapped the captain. It was no order for men to spring "over the top," no battle-cry that was heard by the enemy, but the word under the water that is the order for the deadly destroyer to be released and speed on its way to the unsuspecting craft. Practice torpedo or not, when under the waves of the North Sea the word works up a dramatic situation hard to equal. The other officers and men are interested, and they told me that never does the word "Fire" fail to stir the soul of everybody aboard. Though the effect is heightened by the knowledge that a great vessel is the target and has been bored in twain, the interest is still thrilling when the submarine is practising. With a shot at the enemy there is, of course, the explosion to dread. If the submarine does not get away far enough, the explosion of the torpedo may be the cause of extinguishing all lights aboard the submarine, and lamps have then to be used.