Civilian who? At what controls?

Still thinking about the Feb 9, 2001 USS Greeneville / Ehime Maru collision - An AP article from Tuesday mildly states:

A National Transportation Safety Board report, released last October, concluded that Waddle's hasty order for the drill caused the submarine to surface into the Ehime Maru's hull.

Never mind that that when the accident happened the control room (you know, the room with all those dials and gauges not to mention that periscope thingy) was so crowed with civilians or so called "Distinguished Visitors" that:

As the Greeneville ascended to periscope depth, the CO asked that some of the civilian visitors move because they were blocking the view of a video monitor that displayed the image seen through the periscope.²⁵ At 1338:30, the ship arrived at a depth of 60 feet. Reconstructed system data show that, at this time, the Ehime Maru was at a range of 2,315 yards, or 1.14 nautical miles. (See figure 8.)

And never mind (again) that the only reason the USS Greeneville was at sea that day was to entertain these DV schmucks. They had no other mission or training exercise scheduled. Zero.

I guess history is written by those who *don't* drown at sea after their floating high school is sunk by a joy-riding nuclear attack sub. Thanks Associated Press! Thanks for shoving all that down the memory hole. As long as the sub commander still feels bad about it. whatever.

Update 2/9/2006 11:55 PM: This AP article is pretty weak too. It barely mentions the civilians on board. The rest is just all 'Boy, The navy sure has learned it's lesson!' without explicitly stating what that lesson is. Might I suggest; If the cute little control room on your nuclear submarine that the US taxpayers so generously bought for you didn't come with the deluxe VIP Room option with the roomy spectator seating, cup holders and the Nerf^TM covered rudder and hull perhaps you should tell the next tour group to take a long walk off a short pier.

Update 2/15/2006 2:16 PM: Found a dead link at thehawaiichannel.com for the 2/15/2001 article titled "Japanese Outraged Over Sub Revelation" so I found it at archive.org - link

Japan Demands Information On Civilians
TOKYO, 7:58 a.m. HST February 15, 2001 -- A resident of a Japanese fishing village said that it sounds like the crew of the USS Greeneville was "fooling around."

Update 2/15/2006 3:16 PM: Last update. I realize this story is long forgotten by most people but I find it to be an interesting analogue to the current scandals that are threatening to bring down this Administration (How many are we up to? I've lost count) as well as the massively corrupt and dysfunctional American military industrial complex and the privatization of the military. Also, since it occurred before 9-11-01 (which "changed everything") it is immune from all that "War on Terror" ridiculousness. It's one story, among many, of collusion between the government, the military, and big business - about their corruption and incompetence and how they bring suffering to innocent people. -- 'Help Identify The Civilians On The Sub'



Look here (and here, here, here, here)