I’ve been on a patrol boat on pitch black night patrols and it would be easier than you think to get hit by a much bigger ship. I don’t fault him for that. And he showed great courage in swimming out with a lamp at night. For all his faults he wasn’t a coward like the entire RAT leadership is today. He would spit on them.
I think you're correct, particularly regarding his post sinking action.
The much larger Japanese destroyer could see the PT boat but they couldn’t see the Japanese?
Spin it any way you want, but Kennedy and his crew were flaking out.
He should have been tried for gross dereliction of duty but instead he was decorated. LBJ and his Silver Star and John Frikken Kerry come to mind. Democrats all.