Sub had civilians at controls. This is no news to anyone anymore. What appeared originally to be a tragic unfortunate accident starts to reek of coverup and ineptitude, US military might at its musclebound worst killing schoolchildren and other innocents. The Navy’s spokesperson certainly ‘doth protest too much’ in the form of denying perseveratively that the civilians at the controls could have had any effect. What troubles me, in the coverage I’ve read of this, is that no one is offering an explanation of, and apparently no reporters are digging for, exactly who these civilians are and why they were being given such a little-boy-with-his-big-toy fantasy treat. Seattle Times
Addendum: While I still haven’t heard this in the American press, the BBC reports that, as I suspected, this was a reward for large Navy donors, in this case to the restoration of the battleship U.S.S. Missouri, ironically the site of the signing of the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII. Apparently, these patronage perqs have not been that uncommon.