April 19, 2012
Navy's Appalling Coverup of USS Iowa
Dan Blue, San Francisco Chronicle
From ``Billy Budd'' to ``The Caine Mutiny,'' writers have been fascinated by crews at sea. Trapped with other men and isolated from the mainland, sailors compose a microcosm, a moral pressure cooker that can explode to reveal dynamics nobody wants to see.
``In a Glimpse of Hell,'' ``60 Minutes'' producer Charles C. Thompson II revisits a case that transfixed the nation, discredited the U.S. naval command and resulted in the retirement of four historic battleships. It also provides a textbook example of how the military uses homophobia to cover its mistakes.
TAGGED: U.S. Navy