Who or what are the Chief Petty Officers?

Chiefs, as they are known and addressed, were the senior enlisted on the boat. They were specialists in their ratings and were experienced leaders. They were, and are, often referred to as the backbone of the Navy and were generally acknowledged to be the people who enable its functioning. There would be five or six chiefs assigned to the boat.

The chiefs’ quarters were in the forward battery compartment, across from the ship’s office. This space was referred to as the goat locker. (This naming was true of the entire Navy, not just submarines.) The space was so named because the chiefs were the “old goats” of the Navy. In WW2, they were as old as 28 or 30 years old.

In modern parlance, GOAT means the greatest of all time. Most chiefs recognize that would be a bit of an exaggeration when referring to the goat locker.