[CaptBones]

That's correct, just as you wrote...which is the same as what I wrote...isn't it?

But again, the PCO patrol was "normal" only during the war and only for the specific purpose of getting a new CO (the PCO) out on a patrol to observe and learn before taking command, without using the peacetime "pipeline" process. Not every PCO needed a PCO patrol; those who served as XO for several patrols and were highly recommended could go directly to new construction.

Then, think about this, not every XO was new construction PCO material either. Therefore not every XO is going to be sent off to take Command of a new boat, or even an old boat that needs a new CO. We built over 200 boats during the war and started with 39 "Fleet" boats (the Perch, Salmon/Sargo, Tambor/Gar classes and one Gato) and a few others in commission at the beginning.

Even if you took every one of those XO's and sent him off to new construction after one war patrol, you'd still only have 39 to take command of the new construction boats. There were 72 Gato's already under construction/fitting out/working up on December 7th...even if all of those 39 XO's were fully qualified and ready for their own Command, you're already 33 PCO's short, following the peacetime "pipeline" process...and it'll only get worse as attrition takes out some of those 39 (and many others) while new construction accelerates.

You're going to round up every single man that you can spare who is in every other way qualified and ready for command and get them on the way to a Command. Those who are in command of one of those 39 Fleet Boats and show some promise early-on are going to get a ticket home to a new construction boat, ahead of those "promising" XOs even. They will need to be replaced...who better to replace them than the CO's already in command of an older ("O" "R" and "S" class) boat right next door (like Coe and Chapple) or a "promising" XO who could quickly do a PCO patrol and take command? ...and so on down the line for a couple of years. They were scraping up every man they could find in any boat or Squadron Staff who was otherwise qualified and considered ready to take command of a boat and would take the fight to the enemy.

Take the case of one Dudley W. Morton; he'd done a war patrol in command of R-5 and was in command of "Dolphin" (one of those "others") undergoing overhaul when "Wahoo" desperately needed a new CO. A perfect example of someone who only needed that PCO patrol to get him in the saddle and charging to the sound of the guns! On the other hand was his XO, Dick O'Kane; ready and highly...strongly...recommended for command. He went to new construction and took command without any need for a PCO patrol...he'd already done 5 of them as XO in "Wahoo".

BTW...I'm sitting here looking at a piece of badly pitted steel, cut in the shape of the State of Texas and labeled "BB-35 3-12-1914". Thank you for your work on the "Texas"; I hope you folks can keep her afloat, or at least preserved in some way, for another hundred and some odd years.