OK, I am finished with testing out of Pearl. Once again, I received a Balao, and all was fine. I had been in a Gato, which was an upgrade from a Tambor. I was NOT expecting to get the Balao when I did, since I had just received a new cut conning tower for my Gato in February 1943, and was expecting to have to go at least 2, if not 3 more patrols before being allowed another upgrade, but instead, I did receive the Balao March 28, 1943, and in spite of its early arrival, all systems were time-appropriately in-place, and fully functional. This was using v1.24 patched to v1.26p, with no extra mods. I will do a Midway test career next, and hopefully won't take more than a day, but this is about the 3rd time of getting the Balao, but earliest I've ever gotten one, but I did bump my renown points awarded up a good bit on purpose, to see what would happen...
We'll see how it goes at Midway...