It's not like the submarine force hasn't 'been there, done that' already! After Pearl Harbor, a few carriers and the Pacific sub force was all we had to prosecute war against Japan until we could rebuild our fleet.
I haven't got the exact figures handy but many sub skippers (maybe 30% or more?) were so risk-adverse they were canned or voluntarily gave up command for not being willing to risk their boats in attacking the enemy! Additionally torpedoes were so valuable (and scarce) at the time that they hadn't been thoroughly tested under war-like conditions. The guys there on the frontlines knoew the damn things weren't working properly and complained, but were ignored by the REMFs... until a commander on-scene made several test shots and proved they were faulty.
As an ex-sub sailor I'm afraid that we've returned to 'those far gone days of yesteryear' with regards to our present day nuke fleet. No skipper will be willing to think outside the box, because that'll be the end of his career. Pretty sad, because I think Kevin Mooney was one of our best.
It seems I have struck a chord....
You're totally correct about that.
The thinking was that older skippers would be more experienced and attack anything that moved. In reality, the older the skipper was then the more in touch with his own mortality he became.
When they started using younger skippers, Ltjg and LTs, sometimes an Lcdr is when they started getting all of the kills in the S. Pacific.