It was a mistake, but not the major blunder some think it is. When you're doing a very dangerous job, sh*t sometimes happens. We didn't intentionally ram it, but these things happen. OTOH, the Chinese probably had to send their shorts to the laundry. One minute, they think they're all alone, and the next, they get hit. Now that I think some more about it, maybe the love tap was intentional. It'll really mess with all the Chinese crews heads if they know they're up against an opponent that they could be in the sights of, and not even know it. Head games is where it's at. Also, that the USN isn't afraid to play rough.
1) Again. *commonsense* says pinging them at close range would mess with their head. Sneaking up behind somebody does not require a shove to scare the [bleep] out of them Just a shout at close range will do it. And, golly, in that scenario the sub would still be *battle ready*(you know the actual purpose of a submarine) instead of going to port for repairs, while announcing to the world we were doing.
2) I'd say a major blunder is letting the enemy know you were right next to them yet could not figure out enough info to prevent us from ramming them. Really, what the hell good is that. They now KNOW we can't hear them. They now KNOW their subs are pretty good. They gained intel from the blunder.
The more you think about it, the more you realize this was a dumb move. We have to get past the useless idea our military can do no wrong.
