If the captain uttered those words in 2020, he would be pilloried by the media and the Navy, demoted, stripped of command, and humiliated.
Shows you what America is made of.
I’ve made it a “fun” habit of telling nurses of my WWII war-time birth date.
Then, I follow up with, “At that time, my father was dropping bombs on the Japanese”.
Most of the time, the nurses will say, “OH, NO!”