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helpful.
    “Helmsman, Planesman, Chief of the Watch, Diving Officer, Fire Control, Officer of the Deck, Sonar, Torpedoes, Radio, Quartermaster, Maneuvering,” the Admiral barked out his checklist of vital stations.
    “Knowledge of how to operate various aspects of the sub by everyone in this room won’t be enough,” the Admiral remarked. “We’re going to need a sympathetic crew that’s eager to help us rather than have us arrested.”
    “How do we know the Alaska sailors won’t shoot us when we try to take over the sub?” asked Annie.
    “It’s a calculated risk,” the Admiral replied. “I’m betting on the fact that the XO can influence some of the crewmembers. The fact that your fathers are their shipmates also works in our favor. It’s critical that we get assistance from at least one of the watch sections if we hope to take the Alaska to sea.”
    “What’s a watch section?” Chrissie asked.
    “The crew of a submarine works on an eighteen-hour day,” the Admiral answered. “The crewmembers are divided into three groups, or sections, that each work six-hour shifts. While section one is driving the ship, section two is watching a movie, reading a book or performing other tasks and section three is sleeping. Luckily, no one has to hot-rack on a Trident.”
    “Hot rack?” a puzzled Mike queried.
    “On smaller, fast-attack subs, there aren’t enough bunks for all the crew members,” the Admiral explained. “Therefore, someone is sleeping in your rack while you’re on duty.”
    “That’s totally gross!” exclaimed Caroline. “I don’t want someone else’s drool on my pillow.”
    “Nobody said serving on a naval vessel was a pleasure cruise,” the Admiral added.
    Admiral Connery then ducked outside to the tree house deck where he made several very official-sounding phone calls on his cell phone.
    In the meantime, the kids continued to study submarine schematics and manuals.
    “Hey everybody,” Mike exclaimed. “I need all of you to set the Wi-Fi on your smartphones and tablets to ad-hoc mode. This will give us a private, peer-to-peer wireless network onboard the sub where we can communicate with VoIP and send each other emails and documents. Set the SSID to Treehouse. Also, to prevent others from snooping, enable WPA2 security and set the passphrase to Seabeck. I’ll be placing extra access points throughout the sub to make sure we have full coverage.”
    “I’ve converted all the ship’s manuals to PDFs and the schematics to Visio diagrams,” announced Annie. “You can grab what you need off my file share.”
    The Admiral hung up his phone and came back inside the tree house to address the children.
    “Okay kids, here’s the plan. I’ve talked to the Bangor subase commander and received approval to give you all a tour of the Alaska when she returns to port tomorrow. Because of everything you’ve been through, he thought it was a good idea to help give you closure. We won’t enter the sub until all non-essential crew has come topside to the pier to greet their wives and kids. This will leave only the one-third of the crew that has to remain on watch to do things like power down the reactor and other systems.”
    “I sure hope they don’t think we’re non-essential,” Mike said nervously.
    “One more thing; the base commander also gave me permission to bring you to the dive simulator tomorrow morning before the Alaska returns,” the Admiral said with a smile. “You’re going to get a crash course in driving a Trident submarine. Now everybody go home and get some rest.”

    Trident Training Facility (TriTraFac)
    After showing identification to the Marines at the main gate of the Bangor Submarine Base, the Admiral and the kids proceeded to the Trident Training Facility. It looked like an unassuming office building nestled amongst the tall Douglas Fir trees.
    “Good morning everyone,” announced Chief Petty Officer Gartrell to the gathered Admiral and children. “I can’t