Kennedy lost his boat because he
1 - failed to properly monitor his radio.
2 - Had mounted an unauthorized anti-tank cannon on his boat, which impacted the center or gravity and added weight which slowed the boat
3 - tried to manuever to engage with the unauthorized weapon instead of moving his boat to a safe distance to engage with torpedos, and
4 - failed to maintain adequate watch in a combat zone.
Of course, he was shipped to the South Pacific to break up his relationship with a Nazi spy who was a personal favorite of Hitler.
Typical Kennedy. Whore hopping with the enemy from the getgo.
I believe they were screwing off. Fishing and drinking torpedo juice. How can you miss a destroyer coming at you? If that would have been LtJg Schlubb, his ass would have been court-martialed. Since he was a crooked-ass Kennedy, he gets a medal and promotion instead.
American torpedoes were crap. Something like 90% failure rate. This is why they added the bow gun and additional depth charges set up to act as mines.
Because Jack got the Navy Cross, Joe Jr. got jealous and volunteered for an experimental mission that got him killed.