This was in June of 1953.

The Great Battleship Race.

We embarked most of the Midshipmen while docked at Annapolis MD. And then began the race for Norfolk. Our sister BB, I believe it was the Missouri, Had loaded and sailed first, and the first to arrive at pier 5, got the dock. The other would swing at the hook, out in the bay. Capt. Foley, being an old Submariner, was very competitive. He sent a message to the engineers to be ready to make 35 kts. in 20 minutes. We expedited loading Midshipmen, and were underway on time.

The race was on. It wasn't long before our 20-knot advantage was noted on the Missouri, but we had an excellent head start, because it would take her at least 20 minutes to build up superheat, and we were overtaking her fast! We were about a thousand yards astern when abeam of her, but the Skipper still had a trick to pull, he had spent the last few moments in the chart house, where he discovered an old ferry channel, listed at 36' deep across horseshoe shoals. We're going to take a shortcut. This is the Captain, and I have the Conn. Right standard rudder, steady on course 262 degrees and he steered us through a very narrow channel. I might say, we literally bounced our way through, and I don't think it was 36 ft deep any more. This maneuver placed us about two miles ahead of the Missouri, and when she finally caught up, we had already sounded liberty call.