Cool stuff indeed. But I have to ask how come the Navy puts non-swimmers out in ships? I would expect that a big part of Navy boot camp would be ensuring that everybody knew how to swim.
Cool post Stephen
Now about the Non-swimmer stuff, well I always wondered that also and to find out not everyone goes swimming on a regular basis so, that there is a basic test we do in bootcamp in which you are to jump off a raised platform, swim a certain distance, and then tread water for a bit.
If the swimmers pass, then they move on but for the not so capable ones, they are given additional swimming lessons but, it does not mean that they keep in practice. I guess that's why there are a majority of capable swimmers to help the less fortunate out.