Thanks for the IREX Newsletter. As Engineer and Diving Officer during the incident described in the article under “Another Routine Day at the Office” (October, 1995), I was the guy on the spot. I reported my visit to the Yard Engineering Dept. to the Captain, Lindsay McCarthy, a week before that ludicrous dive. When I told the peppery old gentleman who was responsible for re-ballasting the boat after the deck gun and auxiliary generator were removed that I would not be able to dive the boat ballasted the way she was, he advised me that he'd been doing the job for 30 years, that the boat was properly ballasted and in the future I would be well advised to show more respect for my elders and superiors. The Captain said he appreciated my concern, but, under the circumstances, there was nothing to do but go out and try it. After flooding everything, including the sanitary tanks, we hung there on the surface with our stern out and our bow under. What really teed me off was the need to spend another two weeks in the rip-off shipyard. I swore that after that experience, if I ever got called back to active duty again they would never get me into a Navy Yard again.