On 11 June the submarine rescued a downed Navy aviator and the following day pulled two more airmen from the water.

Navy aviators tended to be an arrogant lot, though it was arrogance well-placed.

Coming down on a flight deck with the barricade erected was, for Navy aviators, an unnatural act.

"No chance these Navy aviators are going to miss a big target like that," Murdock said.

There was an unspoken attitude among Navy aviators.

They would have had to get close to make a kill, "knife-fighting distance" as Navy aviators liked to phrase it.

In contrast, the Navy aviators had a clear radar picture of the Libyan planes.

Tonight they'd practice interception tactics against fellow Navy aviators.

All her life, since long before the notion of women serving in combat units had been seriously addressed, she'd wanted to be a Navy aviator.

This was why she'd worked and trained and fought to become a Navy aviator!