Dammit dammit dammit....

If those seven kids died 'cause some officer or officers couldn't pull their head out, that officer or officers oughta be cooling heels in Portsmouth, pending trial for seven negligent homicides at bare minimum.

All seven of those sailors should be getting considered for the Navy and Marine Medal (posthumous), as it seems likely to a simple landlubber such as I that if they hadn't secured those inboard hatches, Fitz could have foundered or sank. Not being in combat, the Navy Cross regretfully doesn't apply... on paper.

Chief, there is something wrong on this whole thing. Too many things had to go wrong for this to happen, sheer knuckleheadedness doesn't stretch far enough. There had to be someone computing course/speed solutions who shoulda shouted out "Engines Full, hard to port" or whatever would have been needful to command to take a hard left away from the pending collision.