It was a clear dark night once and I had the midwatch as Officer of the Deck (OOD) on a deployed submarine. We were set to spend the whole watch at periscope depth, so none of us in control were looking forward to it. Several boring hours into the shift, I keyed in on how clear the stars were. It was such a still night that it was difficult to make out the horizon because the stars were reflecting clearly on the water surface. After one of my safety sweeps, I decided to take a gander at the heavens, since I could make out the stars very clearly. And one particularly bright star didn't quite look right. I increased magnification and could make out the telltale rings of Saturn. Much to the delight of my watch team, I announced, "Quartermaster, stand by to take a fix on Saturn." After a few minutes in the almanac looking up the bearing and azimuth, we were able to record one of the most interesting moments of my entire Westpac deployment.

- Rich P.