Good morning sir. Admiral Lockwood likes to meet with all new sub skippers and I know you're scheduled to meet with him this morning but its been a bad night. Last night Wahoo didn't report in as scheduled and he's been up all night trying to develop leads. Just take it easy and don't say anything controversial and you should be OK. Hate to see a new skipper get burned, sir. The admiral will see you now, sir.
Good morning son, right snappy salute you have there. I hope you know where you're going that salute is worth less than a well-maintained load of torpedoes and a lot of good luck. Nicely pressed uniform you have there, too. See mine? Yeah, it's all rumpled and not too clean from my night from hell, which continues during the day here. That's the future of YOUR uniform, son. If you live.
I'll let you in on what happened last night. At 1750, Captain Morton of the Wahoo was supposed to report in. Mush and I are good friends. He's the best we have, him and Dick O'Kane, who used to be his exec. Mush is the finest, most aggressive and thorough attack commander in the sub fleet. Now he's overdue.
Son, that's what sucks about this submarine war. We don't get clean reports: Mush Morton and the Wahoo were sunk at this time at that place doing this. We just get silence. And the cruelest thing is the hope that you cling to when time after time this same thing happens and it always ends up meaning the same thing. Boat lost with all hands. War is hell, son, and you've known it since you were a kid. Well....now you're going to learn what hell really is.
I tell you this because you're the new guy here. If my friend and the best sub commander in the fleet can buy the farm, what do you think your chances are? Your job is to sink Jap ships and that's going to put your boat and your crew into danger. Weigh the odds, son. Sunk subs and dead crews don't sink anything. You gotta be aggressive but not stupid.
If Morton is dead, you have some giant shoes to fill. Talk to O'Kane and the other sub commanders around the base to learn from their mistakes. Read patrol reports until you can't read any more.
Drill your crew until they're half dead. You'll be saving their lives. This is no time to be a nice guy. Your job is to tell your crew things they don't want to hear and make them do things they don't want to do. Some of 'em will hate you for it. They'll never thank you that they're alive to hate you. And when you come back from the cruise with no torpedoes and four or five Jap merchies on the bottom they'll forget they hate you.
Welcome aboard, son. Sorry to be so maudlin, but last night was a hell of a night, and I know there'll be more of 'em. Up until now "war is hell" has been book knowledge. Starting now, you learn what that phrase means. Dismissed!
Well, how'd you do, sir? You look a little pale! Want some coffee? Cream and sugar? No, huh? Well maybe I can show you around Honolulu tonight, I know all the best party spots. Oh, don't feel much like partying, sorry sir. Well, welcolme aboard. Hope you're feeling better tomorrow. Congratulations on your new command!
