The Captain was thinking “well, I’m a shoe-in to make flag rank, now!”
That boat’s crew will be celebrities for the rest of their careers.
Well, they’ve earned it.
What needs to be understood is the degree of precision being seen. An individual, specific target warship of a foreign navy was hunted down in mid-ocean, successfully stalked and killed with a single torpedo, in the dark.
This level of expertise and capability has never before been demonstrated. Twenty-first century naval warfare is light years ahead of past times.
This is what we spend trillions of dollars for.
Three cheers to the US Navy.