But it was the two Navy chiefs who came up to him.

That was far too complex a question for a former Navy chief lying in a hospital bed.

The Navy chief signed for it on the way out, then went back to his desk.

He turned and found himself face to face with a Navy chief.

"We'll be ready to pump up the cells in a half hour," the retired Navy chief reported.

All through the small hours of the night, the Navy chiefs conferred.

"Okay, maybe I'll stop by next week and you can tell me some lies about being a Navy chief."

The doctor of the ship is also depicted as a Navy Chief.

"Can't have a Navy Chief who's spent his entire life underwater, right?"

Since 1967, he was the Navy Chief of Staff.