"“Most department heads I had were afraid to go to the captain with anything that might look bad for them — they did everything they did to protect their own reputations and wanted nothing to hamper them from eventually getting in the CO seat themselves,” said former Lt. Jonathan Parin, who served onboard the destroyer James E. Williams."

Maybe the Navy's standard reaction of snap-firing the Captain and any involved officers after any significant problem or accident leads to small problems being covered up until they become big problems?