“No person can command a nuclear equipped unit if there is an accusation or appearance of wrongdoing, even if totally unfounded!” - - U.S. military regulation.
A master of a ship at sea, whether it be a warship or a civilian vessel, a captain no less, mentally “bent”, obsessive, or even deranged, is a popular genre’ of fiction and the cinema?
I have in mind a Captain Queeg [Bogart],“Caine Mutiny”, Captain Ahab [Peck] “Moby Dick”, Captain Finlander [Widmark] “Bedford Incident”, or Captain Ramsey [Gene Hackman] “Crimson Tide”.
[the legend and opera “The Flying Dutchman” is also based upon the crazed and obsessed sea captain genre’!]
Men whose derangement or obsession places the vessel, crew, and MISSION or TASK in great danger.
The belief that a military commander may go - - for what ever reason - - go “nuts”, “wacko”, “bonkers”, become deranged or mentally incapacitated to such a degree that aberrant behavior may transpire is NOT WITHOUT FOUNDATION!!??
Order by such a commander maybe issued that are so contrary to common sense that they defy description and imperil everyone, friendlies included??!!
Such a danger is especially acute in the case of a submarine commander? A man, "lord of all he surveys, a despot" almost, possessing almost plenipotentiary powers to make extraordinary decisions on his own - - quite often not only being out of contact with higher command authority, but also having no means of establishing contact with those superiors in the command structure.
AND, SUCH A DANGER IS EVEN THAT MUCH MORE ACUTE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE!! THIS HAS TO BE JUST INTUITIVE!!
Again - - the fear that a submarine commander in particular may go, for what ever reason, “berserk” and do something untoward, is NOT WITHOUT FOUNDATION!!??
Consider for instance this instance from World War Two:
Thanks here to Harry and KTB: http://www.sharkhunters.com
[please note that the wiki entry makes absolutely no mention of this incident!!]
"At 8pm Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) [USS] Dolphin started on here first war patrol . . . the Captain, Gordon B. Rainer was mentally sick with a brain tumor . . . Going out the channel At Pearl Harbor he (Rainer) was seen to thumb his nose at Pearl Harbor. During the patrol they came upon the LEXINGTON Battle Group at night. Not knowing it was American they made an approach on the LEXINGTON and were set up to fire torpedoes when the XO . . . said that the paint markings showed it to be the LEXINGTON. Captain Rainer said he didn't care, he was going to sink it anyway. The officers took Rainer off the 'scope and took him to his cabin . . . The captain's mental condition was confirmed and [he] died from a brain tumor . . . a year later"
Captain Rainer was obviously a man with a big time problem, suffering from an undiagnosed brain tumor, and at the time of the sailing from Pearl Harbor, a man not fit to command - - through no fault of his own.
Overpowered [?], tied [?], confined [?], sedated [?], all was done in a correct manner by those officers immediately subordinate to Rainer! When the potentiality of mutiny is normally considered, IT IS THE ENLISTED MEN USUALLY FELT TO BE THE DANGER, AND NOT THE OFFICERS.
In this specific case, Rainer was obviously a man “bent”, “over the edge”, and unfit to command. A danger to himself, the ship he commanded, and everyone in existence period!
Within a year, Rainer succumbed to his illness, untreatable as it was. [techniques and devices for diagnosis, much less treatment, were not available as they are now!]
The Dolphin, post-Rainier, had a MUCH DISTINGUISHED WAR RECORD!! Suitably commanded, the Dolphin acquitted and crew performed admirably for the duration of WW2, REMARKABLE CONSIDERING THAT THE DOLPHIN AT THE TIME WAS AN ANTIQUATED BOAT, OF INFERIOR CAPACITY!!
coolbert.
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