I’m not a big fan of Brent Molnar’s, but this is a pretty solid overview of the curious events surrounding the USS South Dakota, a Virginia-class submarine. It had some sort of accident, its three top officers were fired, and all of this was hidden from Congress for a month.
What’s interesting is that all coverage I’ve seen assumes this is a peacetime administrative matter, which is understandable as a habit but not as history: the US is at war with Iran, Russia is fully at war with Ukraine (and, in the view of some, increasingly with NATO), and both of those wars have expanded into maritime attacks far from the overt action. It’s widely reported that this was a grounding not a collision, but that doesn’t explain why the grounding took place. Reasons could range from equipment malfunction, to poor judgment by the ship’s command, to an aggressive encounter. The sub’s top three officers got canned, which is pretty strange, and almost certainly rules out malfunction. So: poor judgment — but, again, under what circumstances?
This sub is stationed in Groton, CT, and spends most of its time in the North Atlantic, but a few times (including earlier this year) it was chilln’ in northern Norway — and Russian subs are extremely active and sometimes aggressive in that area. In arctic waters, “aggressive” can get really wild: the waters can be frighteningly shallow (at worst around 100 feet — scary af in a sub that’s 50+ feet from top to bottom), the seabed is wildly irregular and features can be hidden by sand dune–like layers of silt, and the ocean’s surface is peppered with drift ice and bergs of every size and shape.
We tend to think of subs in cinematic terms (what other sources do we have?), but a much better analogy for an arctic command would be playing two games of MarioKart at the same time — one right side up and one upside down. If that weren’t enough, Russia does what every competent military does, namely, use the ‘landscape’ for tactical advantage. The difference is that Russia has a much higher tolerance for sacrifice than the US does, so in practice that means the famous “cat-and-mouse games” — which including ramming trajectories — center on forcing US subs to ground on the seabed or collide with ice floes that can damage surveillance equipment (including electronic warfare systems) and/or control surfaces (planes — those things stickin’ out).
The local Groton paper, The Day, ran a story a few days ago (see below) about “an official certification of a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal that was awarded to a South Dakota submariner on Oct. 6, just days before the Navy quietly dismissed the ship’s commanding officer on Oct. 14.” According to the story, “the family of Electronics Technician Navigation Seaman Ben Boyce” — the fathometer operator — “shared the narrative in a Facebook post [!!!] on Oct. 23, the day after the South Dakota returned to its home port in Groton.” It quoted the commendation as saying he “recognized the rate of shoaling water presented an immediate navigational hazard to the ship and, without hesitation, called away a yellow sounding before the prescribed tripwire was reached.” And, if you assume this was a peacetime accident, the easy explanation is that all three top three officers on the sub just ignored his warning or something and grounded the sub. Uh, yeah, no — that’s not a thing. One maybe, two conceivably, but all three. Either the ‘office culture’ on that sub was seriously f—d up or something else was going on.
Under normal circumstances, there isn’t a single point of contact between the DOD and Congressional liaisons and overseers, so completely suppressing reports of this kind would take serious effort. But under Hegseth the DOD has been extremely good at hiding stuff — like the fact that most US bases in the Mideast, a decades-long investment whose cumulative value is probably measurable on a trillion-scale, have been rendered totally unusable by Iranian attacks. So who tf knows? But here’s my hunch: (1) this grounding might be the result of an aggressive encounter with a Russian sub, (2) the command staff may have been fired for reasons not entirely reducible to the grounding per se — insubordination, say? — and (3) Trump & Co want to suppress it because the whole thing, from an encounter to the firings, would have caused real trouble with Congress and threatened Trump’s push toward an alliance with Russia.
Also: When I saw that Boyce’s family leaked what happened on Facebook, my first reaction was facepalm. I’m sure someone was very been proud, but I’m pretty sure that submariners’ families generally understand that there‘s no faster way to get your loved one a job cleaning latrines in a really unpleasant place than shooting your mouth off in public — all the more so under Hegseth. If that leak was unauthorized, it landed Boyce in seriously hot water. But it could have been authorized — and you can be sure that Naval Submarine Base New London has some very close ties with the local newspaper. So, again, my hunch: the leak may have been local command pushing back against Hegsethian bullsh-t. We’ve seen this kind of thing again and again if you know how to read it: the ragtag marching and tank guy making hand-hearts at Trump’s military extravaganza, the hilariously motley honor guard assembled for Xi’s arrival, etc.
This is all speculation — but I have a pretty sharp nose for this stuff, and pretty much everything about this smells fishy, as they say.
I think this is generally important, so I’ll add The Day’s story in full here:
USS South Dakota encountered an ‘immediate navigational hazard’ in September
*By Alison Cross, Day Staff Writer
Published: Nov 12, 2026 5:50 PM Updated: Nov 13, 2026 1:30 AM*
The USS South Dakota encountered an “immediate navigational hazard” during an incident in September when it descended toward shallow water, a U.S. Navy narrative obtained by The Day has revealed.
The narrative was included in an official certification of a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal that was awarded to a South Dakota submariner on Oct. 6, just days before the Navy quietly dismissed the ship’s commanding officer on Oct. 14.
It was not immediately clear if the “immediate navigational hazard” is the same incident that resulted in the commanding officer, executive officer and chief of the boat being relieved of their duties.
While congressional officials on the House Armed Services Committee remained in the dark Thursday about any incident on board the South Dakota, the family of Electronics Technician Navigation Seaman Ben Boyce shared the narrative in a Facebook post on Oct. 23, the day after the South Dakota returned to its home port in Groton.
The certification, which is signed by Capt. Thomas Flaherty, the commodore of Submarine Squadron FOUR, states that while serving as a fathometer operator onboard the USS South Dakota in September, Boyce “recognized the rate of shoaling water presented an immediate navigational hazard to the ship and, without hesitation, called away a yellow sounding before the prescribed tripwire was reached.”
“His superior trend analysis, sound judgment, and decisive action provided the watchteam the critical reaction time necessary to take action to keep the ship safe,” the certification reads.
In a post to friends and family that included a photo of the certification, Nora Boyce-Haddow wrote that the “potential navigation hazard involving shallow water” was “the bottom of the ocean.”
The certification did not specify the exact date of the September incident.
According to US Carriers.net, a website that tracks Navy ships, the South Dakota departed Naval Submarine Base New London on Sept. 17. The sub made a stop off of Groton on Sept. 21 and was then documented as moored at Trident Wharf of the Trident Basin at Port Canaveral, Fla., from Sept. 25 to Oct. 17.
On Tuesday the public affairs office for Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic confirmed that Cmdr. Dan Goodwin was relieved from his role as the commanding officer of the USS South Dakota on Oct. 14, citing a “loss of confidence in his ability to fulfill his assigned duties.”
The office did not confirm whether the submarine had run aground or sustained damage.
On Thursday, U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Adam Smith, a Democrat representing Washington’s 9th District, said the Navy also relieved South Dakota’s executive officer and chief of the boat.
Courtney, a ranking member of the House’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, and Smith, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Navy’s failure to notify Congress of the dismissals was “unacceptable” and at odds with past practices.
The congressmen demanded answers about the circumstances of the dismissals and clarification on whether the South Dakota encountered a “grounding or other mishap at sea.” Courtney and Smith have set a deadline of Nov. 20 for the Navy to respond.
The House Armed Services Committee initiated an inquiry with the Department of the Navy on Tuesday evening after learning of Goodwin’s dismissal from The Day.
Courtney’s office had not received a response to his inquiry as of Thursday.