https://archive.ph/iEKE7
Vice Adm. John B. Nathman, president of the court, accused Waddle of acting improperly by pushing the sub to a speed and depth beyond what the Navy acknowledges as the sub’s maximum.
The sub also executed an “emergency blow,” a dangerous maneuver that sends the sub rocketing to the surface. As the sub broke the surface, it smashed into the Ehime Maru, sinking the vessel within 10 minutes.
Nathman said Waddle decided to give the civilians “a super E-ticket ride at Disneyland aboard a submarine.”
And by showing the civilians that the sub can go faster than 25 knots and deeper than 800 feet--the limits acknowledged by the Navy--Waddle was potentially releasing military secrets, Nathman said.
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Waddle testified that he had spent an unexpectedly long lunch chatting with the civilians, many of whom were being rewarded for having raised funds toward a memorial and museum for the battleship Missouri, the ship where the Japanese signed the unconditional surrender that ended World War II.
The Tragedy of the Ehime Maru
February 2001, nine Uwajima High School students and instructors died when the USS Greeneville submarine collided with their fishing training ship, Ehime Maru.
The small high school fishing crew was conducting training exercises off of Oahu's shores when the USS Greeneville launched out of the water, causing the boat to sink immediately and taking the lives of several students, instructors and crew members with it.
According to Greenville crew members, the tragedy was blamed on the presence of several civilians on board the submarine during a rapid surfacing drill. Crew members became distracted with entertaining guests and botched the drill schedule.
Scott Waddle, the Navy commander of the USS Greeneville submarine at the time, was investigated following the incident and given a honorable discharge.
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