A recent poll conducted in Honolulu found 56 percent of residents supported the U.S. Navy's decision not to court-martial Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the former captain of the U.S. submarine Greeneville, for his role in the Feb. 9 collision of his sub with a Japanese fisheries training ship that left nine Japanese lost at sea.
A joint survey by a local daily, the Star Bulletin, and broadcasting company KITV4 found 36 percent of people were in favor of a court-martial for the captain.
In April, the navy imposed a nonjudicial punishment on Waddle, who was relieved of command of the submarine following its collision with the Ehime Maru off Hawaii, based on the recommendation of three admirals who sat on the bench of the Navy Court of Inquiry.
The punishment, known as an "admiral's mast," comprises a punitive letter of reprimand to be placed in Waddle's military record, the forfeiture of half a month's pay for two months, and his being formally stripped of the captaincy of the Greeneville.