This episode's title was also used 20 years earlier as the name of an episode of the show's predecessor series "Silent Service (1999)".
The Silent Service, with respect to the episode title, refers to submariners, or Navy personnel who work in a submarine.
COB stands for Chief of the Boat.
XO is short for Executive Officer.
McGee made mention of the following symbols with respect to the formatting of the stand-down order:
- Hash - #
- Bang - !
- Splat - *