Outstanding Article from The Day

Here is about the most informative summary yet I've seen of the San Francisco grounding, from The New London Day. It'll require free registration after today, so see it quickly! Here's some new speculation that actually makes sense if you think about it:

Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, the captain of the Guam-based San Francisco, had not been relieved of duty as of Thursday night, an indication that Sullivan is not concerned that he was at fault in the accident, Navy sources said.
Privately, several retired senior submarine officers said it would not be surprising if Mooney is eventually court-martialed for the incident, but only so that he can be acquitted in a public forum, giving him a stronger defense in the event of any civil actions by the family of crewmen. Given the nature of the accident, few expect he would be held liable for the crash.
“If he is court-martialed, it would be for his own protection,” one of the sources said.
The San Francisco was apparently following all the required procedures and was supposed to be more than seven miles from any obstacles when it hit a seamount, or underwater mountain, while traveling about 500 feet below the surface at more than 30 knots, or about 35 mph, sources said.

Good stuff, if true...

Update: Welcome, Rantburg readers. The comments from this thread on Rantburg are starting off in an "unfortunate" direction. Regarding Bob Hamilton's theory in the article above that there may be a "show" court martial for exonerate Captain Mooney, I also don't think they'd go through the legalities, but he could be taken to "Admiral's Mast" (for form of non-judicial punishment, as they did for the USS Greeneville collision) and found not guilty there. However, these aren't official judicial proceedings like courts-martial are.