Then we turn around, return to our starting point under power, turn around again, and drift back. This saves fuel. You have to drift. You can't anchor, not at 2.000 fathoms that's 12.000 feet. If seas are heavy, the turnaround exposes the ship to a broadside slamming from the waves.
All hands hang on.
Staying within Oscar Sierra, the central grid, sometimes poses a problem on stations like Charlie where dreary days pile up one on the othier, ruling out celestial navigation. On our last patrol we were able to get only one star fix all the time we were out there, and that was on the morning we were leaving. The sun was out only a few days, and just briefly, so we seldom had a sunline available. For finding out where they are, the ships relv chiefly on Loran A navigational system built around radio transmitters installed in pars, master ami slave, on mainlands amd islandsof the Atlantic. Thie signals are translated into numbers corresponding to lines drawn on a loran map of tlie Atlantic.