The former captain of the USS Greeneville said Thursday that he wants to visit Japan next month to personally apologize to relatives of victims of the Feb. 9 collision between his sub and a Japanese fisheries training ship.
In an interview with CNN, Cmdr. Scott Waddle said the navy has approved his visit to meet the victims' relatives in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture.
In a separate TV interview, he described as "fair" the administrative punishment he received for the sinking of the training ship that left nine people lost at sea, saying a court-martial would have been futile.
In the interview with U.S. television network NBC, Waddle admitted that while he and his crew "made mistakes" resulting in the surfacing sub's collision with the Ehime Maru, a court-martial would probably have resulted in his acquittal.