Mooney Supporters Race to His Defense

This is the title of an article by Robert Hamilton in The New London Day (annoying free registration required after 1 day; a more long-lasting non-registration version can be found here, 2nd story down). In addition to being interesting because it quotes many of the active posters on Ron Martini's Submarine BBS, it has the following information from MM2(SS) Joseph Ashley's father, and provides an indication that the backlash against the Submarine Force's decision may be growing:

“How could I in my right mind hold him responsible? No one has showed me yet that he did anything wrong,” said Daniel Ashley, the parent of Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Ashley. “I'm just having a difficult time justifying in my mind that he is to blame here.”
Ashley said he is upset that satellite images of the area taken in 1999 show the seamount, but that information was never incorporated into Navy charts. He said the Pentagon needs a process to get the most updated information into Navy charts.
“The crew jumped through all the hoops, they took all the soundings, they did everything they should have done,” Ashley said. “The captain tried to apologize when we went out to Guam last month and I told him he had nothing to apologize for.”
That same sentiment has been expressed by many in the submarine community, and is spreading quickly on computer bulletin boards and e-mails.

Staying at PD...