CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
USS Halibut – Underway from Guam
One day before our scheduled departure, Dirk and his guys powered up the reactor, running with seawater pumped to the sub through large fire hoses. The rest of the crew settled into an abbreviated fast cruise, wringing out the various ship’s systems, and getting themselves back in the groove of regular watch-standing.
Ham and I ran a couple of drills past our guys. Since they had never stepped very far down from their normal operational readiness, the drills were as much for the rest of the crew to see that we were part of the fast cruise as for anything else.
Underway was scheduled for 0100. Sometime before 2300, sailors removed the tarp over our topside, and the crane lifted away the gangway. Promptly at 2300, I joined the Skipper
