Submarine's ex-skipper won't take trip to Japan
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Associated Press
The former commander of the U.S. submarine that rammed and sank a Japanese fisheries training ship will not visit Japan before he retires on Sept. 30, according to the Navy.
Cmdr. Scott Waddle, former skipper of the USS Greeneville, will not go to Japan because officials there have indicated that "the time was not right" for him to visit, the Navy said.
If after his retirement Waddle were to visit Uwajima, the home port of the Ehime Maru, the Navy would serve as a liaison, a Pacific Fleet spokesman said.
Waddle's attorney, Charles Gittins, has said he would advise Waddle to not visit Japan after he leaves the Navy because he would no longer have its protection.
Waddle publicly apologized for the Feb. 9 collision, which occurred during a rapid surfacing demonstration for a group of American civilians aboard his submarine.
He has said he wanted to go to Japan to apologize directly to the families of the nine men and boys from the Ehime Maru who were killed when the ship sank nine miles south of O'ahu.
The Navy is working to raise the Ehime Maru from the sea floor and tow it to shallower waters where military divers will try to recover the remains.
