I knew Vice Adm Munns when he was a LT, instructing our NROTC class - he was always a sharp man.
No doubt that Captain Ruff, too, was a sharp man -- the Navy is not in the habit of giving command at sea to men who do not inspire confidence.
It's hard to tell whether this is one of those things where Ruff really screwed up, or one of those things where the good of the Naval Service demands a sacrifice, and so a head rolls, and in timeless tradition that head is the captain's.
In "The Right Stuff," which is about pilots and astronauts but could easily be about naval officers, special ops operators or several other military elites, Tom Wolfe notes that the "Right Stuff" is something that "can blow at any seam." It's generally a bad thing for most commanders when their unit makes the newspaper (given that most reporters hate the military and will only report the negative).
We'll never know what really happened on the deck of that boat, I reckon. Ruff knows, and whether his responsibility was direct, indirect, or of the "Naval tradition requires you to step down" variety, the nature of command is such that the burden of these men's deaths will remain with him all of his remaining days.
It's a grim business.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F