"Vaughn" wrote in message
...

"WalterScottGray" wrote in message
news:O3YAPWQ537938.7568402778@anonymous...

Rage in Italy

"It's the umpteenth demonstration not only of the grave risks to which
the civilian population is exposed [...] but also of the culture of
silence that invariably covers military activities in Sardinia," Italian
Green Party MP, Mauro Bulgarelli said in Parliament, according to the
Independent. "

I think it is more the Green party that is outraged rather than
"Italy"
in general. Anyhow, Italians famously outrage easily and get over it just
as quickly after a bit of arm and finger waving. ;-)

The chances of a grounding, even a "violent" grounding turning into a
nuclear incident (the release of radioactive material) are virtually nil.
The chances of that same incident turning into bad press and/or bad
politics
are another matter altogether.

By the way, I remember an incident from my own Navy days when a
submarine returned very early from a deployment after an underwater
collision with a submarine from another country. It was 10 years later
before I read about that incident in the press. They don't call the
submarine nave the "silent service" for nothing. What happened?

Vaughn

The article says the Navy fired the men in charge. I suspect that if they
considered this a minor incident, they would've debriefed and then quietly
shuffled the men off to a different assignment, in much the same way priests
are sent to another parish by the Catholic church.

With this in mind, I'd say the locals have every right to be concerned. It's
one thing for a sub to tap a ship it's trying to tail in complete silence,
as part of a usual cat & mouse games which are a necessary part of their
function. It's a whole 'nother thing for a sub captain to crash into a
stationary chunk of earth which is NOT trying to evade the sub. That says
"incompetent", or maybe worse.