Our single-minded concentration on bringing the NR-1 on line was so consuming that we lost touch with the rest of the world. Huge social and cultural changes were shaking America, but we remained focused on the task at hand. By 1969, after two intense years of preparation, we had become part of the complicated machine that would take us to the floor of the world. Many of us had married by then and lived along the quiet New England shore, but our wives knew only a portion of what we did. On the initial sea trial, Rickover sent the officers to their bunks to prove that a single sailor could run the ship. We were then delivered to the Navy and assigned to Submarine Squadron II, where we tied up alongside attack subs that were five times our size. All we had to do now was to prove that we could do things that those aboard the big boats could only dream about.