Captain's tirade left submariner in tears

The Scotsman ^ | 1/9/6 | BEN MITCHELL

[naturalman1975]

Well, whether it was abuse or not - it was, at times, pretty stringent behaviour.

I was Royal Australian Navy Cadet Midshipman in the early 1970s - and we were still subject to corporal punishment then (though not when we actually reached Midshipman). I wouldn't call it abusive by any means (it was actually far less severe than I got at school) but that was quite late in history as well.

As for the rest - well, I do recall being reduced to tears by a severe reprimand as a junior officer. But I bloody well deserved the reprimand - I hazarded the ship. They could have done a lot worse to me - at the time I was so grateful they handled it that way actually. Was I wimp and a wuss? Yeah, probably. But I grew out of it.

I don't know if this Captain acted appropriately or not. My gut call would be that he didn't, but there could certainly be evidence that would convince me otherwise.