He snapped up the handles and stepped back. “Down scope.” The oiled steel tube was heading down before he’d spoken the second word. The captain nodded approval at his quartermaster, who held out a stopwatch. The scope had been up above the surface for a total of 5.9 seconds. After fifteen years in submarines, it still amazed him how so many people could do so much in six seconds. When he’d gone through submarine school, the criterion had been a seven-second exposure.
