I’ve read that he was unintentionally out of position (couldn’t navigate), and not following orders at the same time.
The Navy's first reaction was to plan a Court Martial. Old Joe reacted with a brilliant PR campaign. The rest is history of a sort. The silence of key crew members was bought with a lifetime of preferment in Kennedy jobs. Kennedy was not tried, but decorated. We of course, will never know the full story.
And the watch must have been asleep. How else does a destroyer sneak up on a adrift PT boat on a calm night?
JFk cut the engines. They were sleeping.
He ran a loose ship. The only way a PT boar is going to be rammed by a Japanese destroyer is if the crew is flaking out.
LBJ put himself in for a medal after flying as a passenger in a transport plane in the Pacific theater, and it turned into a John Frikkin’ Kerry Silver Star.
The 1960 Democratic `War Hero’ Ticket: both recipients of the (quite possibly) least deserved but most appreciated medals ever awarded by the US government. Until JFrikkin’K of course.