In the movie Crimson Tide and despite its outcome, which officer do you think was right (HackmanorWashington?)

Question

Why do you think this? What theoretical and procedural factors helped you reach your conclusion? If you were on board, who would you have followed? Its a tough call.

Answer 1

Was he correct? It turned out that he was right, but he had to disobey a direct order, Navy protocal, and cause mutiny on a Nuclear sub. As Jason Robards says in the end, he was right, but he was also wrong to do what he did. Our military is set up so that there can be no question as to whether to follow orders or not. That there was trouble with the communications device is no excuse. I believe that Hunter SHOULD have launched the weapons, if only to obey his superiors. But thank god he didn't. Great movie.

He was not correct, but then that's why they have redundency and character profiling for jobs likes his. I wonder how many fail the profiling. In movies like the Day After, Fail Safe and By Dawn's Early Light, we see different dooms day scenarios where military personnel act as robots or begin to think of their actions. It's interesting to read stories of bombadier pilots during WWII and how they rationalize the killing of "unseen" faces on the ground.

If you're a thinker like XO Hunter, then you problably would not've made it to a nuclear submarine, at least that's my opinion. Did you know the E-4s have begun flying 24 hrs again, they had stopped after the end of the Cold War, just thought i'd throw that in.

Answer 2

It's a tough call. Hackman was an old timer who followed orders and he was a hard nosed officer (an officer that is very strict).
In the Navy the captain of the ship is god and no one questions his orders. In real life I probably would have obeyed the captain but watching this as a movie I took sides with Washington.

Answer 3

Denzel....Hackman's character was psycho!!! Who brings a dog on a sub? Well, in the Navy that is NOT ALLOWED!!! So funny how Hollywood can make up their own Navy Regulations!! LOL!!
I would have followed Denzel all the way. He was right that all the info was not received and that they could not make a solid decision based on what they did get. They needed to get comms up to finish the message.