I thought I was reasonably well informed about the US Navy, but several things have come to my attention that have given me the chills. One of my sisters was an officer in the Navy, and my brother enlisted in the Navy. I dread to think the risk the two of them took.
My concern is less for straight forward fighting, grim as it is, and more for lack of support for the individual ships and sailors by the US government.
A couple of years ago, the story of the USS Indianapolis was made into a movie. During WWII, this ship delivered the parts needed to assemble the atomic bombs. On it's return to the Philipines, the ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine. Of the approximately 1200 sailors on board, 900 made it into the water in the twelve minutes before the ship sank. Unfortunately, they remained in the water five days before they were rescued, and only 317 survived.
The ship sent distress calls that went unheeded. Because they were under a ban of secrecy, their delay in making port went unremarked. While this is horrible, the treatment of the captain compounds the issue. He was court martialed for "suffering a vessel to be hazarded through negligence." The Navy knew there was submarine activity in the area but had failed to let Captain McVay know.
McVay was exonerated in 2001, long after he had committed suicide from the stigma of loosing his ship.
On January 23, 1968 the USS Pueblo was taken by the North Koreans. The Pueblo was stationed in international waters off the coast of North Korea, gathering information. Their mission was supposedly a "Minimal Risk" mission. Despite the fact that the US Government was aware that the North Koreans had tried to raid the South Korean presidential palace that day, the Pueblo was not informed. Instead, they received the scores from the National Basketball Association. And then we stood by as the crew were held captive and tortured for eleven months.
And now, a third horror story has come to light. Mike, at Tongue Oil, provides the bare bones of the story of the USS Liberty. The Liberty was stationed in the Mediterranean, gathering information during the Israeli Six Day War, when it appears that the Israelis tried to sink her. The Liberty radioed for assistance, and it was sent, TWICE, and recalled TWICE. Our government was more concerned about the Israelis than it was about our own people.
It's hard to send our best and brightest to war when the chances are good that they have to fear US as much as the enemy. The absolute least that the US government could do is apologize to the survirors, and let the truth about these "incidents" be told.