Neptune taking stock of courage

Neptune taking stock of courage
It was during the 'Cold War'. Refitting a 640 class FBM out of Holy Loch sometime in the winter of 1976-77. 
We'd been in our patrol area for some weeks. The routine of being at sea was the sanctuary everyone on board embraced. No one thought of how long we still had. And no one was thinking about how long we had been at sea. The drills and spills were just part of the routine. 
The ship was trim and we were running hot straight and normal, ahead one third at North Sea patrol depth. A little deeper to avoid the dramatic rolls that can result in injury in the North Atlantic Sea. I was the Aux.Fwd. We had been making water from the watch before mine and my turn over reflected that fact. As I came on watch we shifted to RPFW, reactor pure fresh water. Those tanks are in the Aft end of the Boat. And it was quickly forgotten.
We had missed the midnight pass due to heavy seas.
 The control room party was not our strongest but together we could handle anything. Or so we thought. 
We had been deep to avoid the rough seas and had flown the radio buoy to keep in contact as the requirements demand. 
The entire watch was boring. Everything was as it should be. At 05:30 it was time for a NAV PASS. Breakfast was being prepared and served. No one noticed the 5 to 7 degree up angle the fairwater planesman was using just to maintain his ordered depth and he wasn't complaining. 
We proceeded to periscope depth after the usual preparations using the usual procedures. As we approached 120ft. the swells were easily felt as we took 7-15 degree rolls! The ship was handling the rough seas pretty good, better than on some passes. The OOD raised the periscope and checked for shadows and hull bottoms and the order came to proceed to periscope depth. The Diving officer acknowledged the order and passed his orders to the planesmen. "Make your depth 70ft smartly, 10 degree up angle". As the ship slowly moved toward the prescribed depth the swells were of the usual sort in the North Atlantic in winter... HUGE! The ship was now taking BIG rolls. Loud crashes followed by the tremendous shudder caused by waves coming up from under the fairwater planes and smashing into their flat under side. The ship had virtually broached as the swells rose and fell around us. Dishes could be heard rattling and smashing. But the boat wasn't coming up fast enough to get the pass. "If we miss this pass, heads are going to roll." Came the taunt from Lt. Wilson, the boats weapons officer who had the Deck and the Conn. He had gotten his degree in an East Coast seminary. So you know he was highly qualified. In an effort to aid the Diving officer he ordered a little higher up angle, 15 degrees. At this point the diving officer asked .."are we making water.."? "Yea", said the COW, "RPFW" and the Dive mumbled "oh crap! ALL WATCH, too"! The order came to begin pumping to sea as fast as the trim pump could pump. And of course it was too late. We almost got to 75ft.on the depth gage. But as anyone who's ever gone to sea in the North Atlantic can attest, the depth gage needs to be in the water to read properly. When the sea rolled past the stern suddenly we became aware of just how heavy 6 hours of RPFW can be. 
With an already steep 15 degree up angle doing 4 knots and 6 hours of RPFW that never got compensated for and the normal sea state of the North Atlantic in winter, we were starting to get that feeling that things were going to turn sour. And we weren't disappointed. 
We began to sink by the stern at a rate that would have been a good 'Emergency Deep' rate. The officer of the deck was screaming "Get me up, get me up"! We immediately were out of the picture for the pass. But more importantly we were still sinking by the stern quite quickly. The ships hovering system control panel showed our downward momentum pegged hard to the stops. We passed 150ft and the Diving officer was asking for more speed. The OOD picked up the 7mc and ordered 'make turns for 6 knots'. We were now passing 250ft and gaining speed! Backwards! I had only seen the digital depth gage move faster during an emergency blow. And that usually results in the Boat surfacing. Our boat was only one of two boats that were not yet restricted to "shallow dives". 
Lt. Wilson was in a state one notch short of panic and threats to the manhood of the control room party were eschewing from his mouth with considerable ferocity. I kept my eye on the Emergency Blow "T" handles and waited, telling myself "if we go past 1100ft. I'm going to save my own ass." As we passed 400ft the CO came into the control room in his skivvies. He wanted to know why he hadn't been informed about the success of the NAV PASS. He was pissed and more than a little concerned and let the Lt. know it. He left and now the OOD was really screaming at the top of his lungs to "get me up"! More threats. At it's worst we sank over 850 ft. with an up angle of almost 20 degrees at times, in a little less than three minutes. Finally some sense came to the OOD. Our up angle had been reduced to 10 degrees and our rate of decent was slowing but we were still looking at going below 1000ft under uncontrolled circumstances. He ordered ahead two thirds and put a three second bubble in the forward group followed by a two second blow in the stern group. We had pumped out way over fifty thousand pounds of water and actually pressurized and blew water to sea using the HOV system. 
Finally, we regained control of both the ship and our selves. Despite the panic on the Conn the control room party followed orders and did their jobs. The OOD ordered immediate relief’s for the planesman. And commenced to lecture them on the disaster that he so skillfully had just saved the entire ship from. Once the relief’s got there the OOD held them in formation (the three of them) and screamed in their faces like a drill sergeant. He sent them to the crews mess and told them they each had two hours to prepare an SA and a prayer. An SA on "why God had just saved such an unworthy control room party from certain burial at sea" and a prayer "to thank him for saving our bacon despite our lack of redeeming qualities". He disqualified them all on the spot and ordered them "re-qualified by your next watch" and he was to have the final signatory checkout. As you might expect the CO put the kabosh on the prayer and had a lengthy discussion with Lt. Wilson, after he changed his poopy suit, about decorum, leadership and Gods place in the U.S Navy Submarine Service. 
The rest of the crew was unaware as to the actual goings on of the failed NAV PASS and carried on as though it was just another day at sea. 
Ain't it great to be alive?