For a Navigation final, one of my classmates made one of the most spectacular "F's" possible. The way the test was run was you were given a big nautical chart, a listing of courses and speeds to follow and a booklet of celestial observations and times to draw from. By the end of the test you would end at a certain point. The way it was graded, the instructors dropped a clear plastic overlay of a bull's eye over the correct spot and depending on how far away your ending point was, determined your grade. This guy screwed up a celestial fix at the very beginning which, of course, screwed up the whole test as his track was totally off. He did not realize it until his track took him right through a big island. By this time it was way too late to go back and re-do the whole test so in a burst of inspiration, he took a razor blade and very carefully cut out the island and moved it over about 10 miles and cut out a matching piece of ocean. He then reversed both the island and the ocean patch and attached them in place with tape on the back of the chart, tidied things up with his pencil and eraser and turned in his chart.
Of course he got a F but the instructors posted the thing on the wall with the big red F and added comments from the whole staff like: "Brilliant tactical solution", "This man is headed for flag rank", "My god, why did I not think of this when I was navigator on my last tour", "This changes sea warfare as we know it", "It's better to be lucky than good---this guy missed both"..........
He became famous. The other equally stunning test was done by a guy who wanted to flunk out. He was past the point of resigning and the only way you could be kicked out and NOT be sent to the fleet as an E-3 was for academic failure (this was during Vietnam and rules were different). He wanted to go to art school and wanted to only fail the courses he would never need and wouldn't transfer which, of course, included Navigation. So he brought in a pack of colored pencils and for the hours of the exam he sketched the most beautiful clipper sailing ship crashing through the waves on a huge blank spot of the chart. It was really good with flapping sails, billowing clouds, waves, men in the rigging, colors, the texture of the ship, sky and birds.......this kid was very, very good. He too got an solid F but the chart was framed and hung for months in the department halls. I heard that finally the instructors got to fighting over who would take it home and it soon disappeared after that.
I wish the future Midshipmen luck in that course, in any case. Thanks for the article and knowing the Navy's penchant for manual backups (think After Steering), I am surprised it ever got dropped.
