Obviously, if you join the Navy, you will eventually be on, under, or over the water. So, they have a program that you go through during boot camp that teaches you how to survive if you find yourself in the water unexpectedly. To digress for a moment...boot camp is what people call the first training you go through in all the services, where you learn to march, clean, and do the basic chores required of everyone. The Navy calls it recruit training.
OK back on course...the Navy teaches you to swim, float, and survive in the water if you fall in. (You do try NOT to fall in.) You learn how to use your pants as water wings by taking them off, getting them wet, tying knots in the end of the legs, holding them out of the water, and whipping them over your head filling the legs with air, and using them as a float. You also learn to swim (kind of) so you can go the length of the pool using any stroke you can.
But the most interesting thing you do at the pool, is simulate jumping off a sinking ship. They have a tower at the side of the pool (see the pictures above for views of the "old days" and "nowadays".) You have to jump off, and swim to the other side, and climb out. Keep in mind that the tower is about eight feet above the floor, add two feet from floor to water, and five or so feet from your feet to eyeballs. So the first time you step up to the edge, it is a bit scary. (I always tried to jump out as well as off so when I came up from seven feet or so, I was part way across. Most people jumped, some had a little boost from the instructor, and some just refused to go. (Eventually they had to do it to graduate.)
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When I did this tower jump, there was one guy just ahead of me who stepped up to the edge, and said to the instructor "I sink"! The instructor said, surprised, you what?? He repeated "I sink". No one sinks, people float! Said the instructor, and told him to jump. So off he goes, and lands with a big splash!
Several of us looked over the edge when he didn't pop to the surface right away, and as the ripples, and bubbles cleared, we looked down, and he was lying on the bottom all sprawled out on his back looking up at us! The instructor on the tower, and the one on the side of the pool dove in, and pulled him out to the side of the pool, and the guy was just fine! He did fine on all the other swimming, and they passed him.