So.... you are saying that with the best of intentions, and tons of 'procedures', the US NAVY made a mistake leading to an incident where a bunch of innocent civilians were killed ?
I've been aboard during numerous emergency blows, which do look like the boat is leaping out of the water. It's sort of routine. During one of them, I was asleep in my rack, awoken by the dive alarm. I then slid all the way one direction in the rack, then floated above the mattress briefly. That was the most fun one. For all the others, I was on my feet and not far enough forward in the boat to experience the weightlessness.
For all you know, the sub could have fired a missile (or a torpedo), then done an emergency dive, and even if you knew they were firing it (while you were asleep), you had no way to know where it went or what it hit because you are in a SUB that is submerged. Correct ?
Yes, that's what I'm saying. But there was no cover up, and everything that happened was within the capabilities of that class of submarine. (I was also on a submarine that instead of doing and EMBT blow to get to the surface in an emergency, it would instead drop lead weights.)
For all you know, the sub could have fired a missile (or a torpedo), then done an emergency dive, and even if you knew they were firing it (while you were asleep), you had no way to know where it went or what it hit because you are in a SUB that is submerged. Correct ?
If the boat fired a torpedo (Mk 48), land attack missile (Tomahawk) or anti-ship missile (Harpoon), it would have woken me up. I would not know where it was heading, but the fire control technicians would. There is a ten to one enlisted to officer ratio, and the officers couldn't send the crew away from their stations.
The submarine does not have the ability to track airborne targets, but the sonar would detect a 747 smashing into the surface of the ocean.