You know, when I was a boy, went to high school with kids of navy officers who would say things like, “yeah, my dad got relieved from command because he zigged when he should have zagged.”
I figured then it was some kind of metaphor, but in this particular case, maybe literally what happened.
Well, that has literally happened, at least in the case of the USS Indianapolis which was sunk by the Japanese sub I-58 (Captained by Mochitsura Hashimoto) who torpedoed her while she steamed in the Philippine Sea on a somewhat cloudy night.
Capt. McVay thought visibility poor enough, and his shop going fast enough to avoid interception by submarines, even though it was known by the Navy there was one in the area that had just recently torpedoed and sunk a DE.
Also, no ship of her size had transited that dangerous area unescorted at any time in the war, so it was unusual. Captain McVay made the decision not to zig-zag, was intercepted by the I-58, was sunk, and the rest is history.
He was courtmartialed for hazarding his ship by not zig-zagging, and was penalized. Interestingly, Captain Hashimoto testified at the court-martial and testified zig-zagging by the Indianapolis would not have saved her from her fate, as he had her dead to rights. It was unusual, to say the least, to have an enemy combatant testify.
Captain McVay was not held responsible by his crew, but his conviction weighed heavily on him, and he ended up committing suicide in 1968. Part of the sentence was overturned in 2001, but not the hazarding the vessel specification.
In summary...it can happen. You can be punished for that.