Submarine Irony and Lawyerly Stupidity

Background

The number of rotten apples creating public relations nightmares for the Navy's submarine service these past 5 years is a very small percentage of our 13,000-man submarine force. - Vigilis, April 15, 2010

January 15, 2002 - Sailor Faces Sex Charges - Police Say He Used Chat Room To Lure Two Underage Girls --- A 22-year-old Naval sonar technician from Groton was arrested on Monday for allegedly having sex with two underage girls he met in an Internet chat room, police said.

April 14, 2010 - Three submariners face charges in sexual assault of 12-year-old girl - The three men are assigned to the USS Philadelphia, a submarine that returned to port in February.  Groton Police and NCIS officials questioned Dominguez, who said he did have sex with the victim, but said he thought she [a 12-year-old girl] was between the ages of 17 and 20, according to the warrant. He later received a suspended prison sentence and two years' probation in New London Superior Court Thursday for fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor.  Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman said the cases of two other defendants are expected to be disposed of similarly.

Update

September 24, 2013 -  Sailor arrested for child molestation - A 25-year-old petty officer 3rd class, a machinist mate aboard the USS Rhode Island, at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay was arrested by Kingsland police after he allegedly took a 13-year-old girl on base and sexually molested her in his room in a barracks. ... Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Kings Bay and a forensic interview specialist with the St. Marys Police Department assisted in the investigation, police said.

(Above may not be all-inclusive of the crime category, as it represents only highly publicized incidents.)

M.E. Observations
1. Bad publicity from rare submariners' crimes remains far less than the negative PR the Navy has dumps upon itself (e.g. the USS Miami arson, and firings of numerous submarine COs, but not the skimmer, shipyard CO where the USS Miami arson occurred). 

2.  Our Phase Two forecast (ref.: Nov 12, 2011) never came to pass. How ironic USS Rhode Island is the sub to which the latest perpetrator (alleged) had been assigned. Whatever the plans to put women crew on her may have once been, the recent publicity has made such an order less likely.

3.  SECNAV Mabus, a non-submariner lawyer, insulted (in this televised video) almost all former Navy vets (with his allusion to the superior patriotism and abilities of today's sailors, including the gratuitous: "we never left port without leaving a couple of guys behind in jail").

4.  In 2013, Navy SECNAV Mabus said that the first women to join Virginia-class attack subs had been chosen: They were newly commissioned female officers scheduled to report to their subs in fiscal year 2015. 

Only a lawyerly genius would authorize women for SSN duty and not expect disruptions of good order and discipline or interferences with secret missions.  

Submarines are always silent and strange.