The captain of the US submarine that rammed a Japanese fishing boat, killing nine people, was forced to resign last night and said afterward he would give his own life if it would bring back the dead.
The commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Adm. Thomas Fargo, found Comdr. Scott Waddle guilty of dereliction of duty and operating the nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville in an unsafe manner when it surfaced directly underneath the Ehime Maru off Hawaii on February 9.
"I'm human and I'm in such great pain because I can't give back what I took away," Waddle said in a television interview after the disciplinary hearing, known as an Admiral's Mast.
"I would give my life if I could give those lives back. I would do it in a heartbeat," he told NBC's"Dateline".
Mr Fargo said Waddle failed to conduct an adequate periscope search before surfacing, and he faulted the crew for failing to communicate better about sonar contacts.
Mr Fargo gave Waddle a written letter of reprimand and ordered him to forfeit half his pay for two months - although he suspended imposition of the forfeiture so it would not affect Waddle's pension. Waddle was awarded his full pension.
"I'm angry at myself because I didn't take longer on the periscope now, knowing that I could have made a difference," Waddle said in the interview.
Referring to the nine dead, he said: "It's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, it's the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night, and I dream about it in sleep."
Mr Fargo told reporters the letter of reprimand ended Waddle's 20-year career in the Navy. The 41-year-old one-time rising star in the Navy tendered his resignation effective Oct. 1.
"This collision was solely the fault of the USS Greenville," Mr Fargo said. "This accident could and should have been avoided (by following correct Navy procedures)."
Citing information gleaned from a 12-day court of inquiry, Fargo said Waddle created an "artificial sense of urgency" to conduct an emergency surfacing maneuver for the benefit of 16 civilians on board the Greeneville at the time.
Families of the nine people killed aboard the Ehime Maru had earlier expressed outrage that Waddle would not face a court martial.
Waddle planned a trip to Japan to express his regrets in person, his attorney Charles Gittins said.