I have a hard time believing the "accident" excuse.
I can think of 3 incidents the USS IOWA explosion, the loss of the soviet submarine KURSK, the loss of USS Scorpion and the explosion on USS Maine that were due to accidents.
Of these incidents all the ships were lost/damaged during a LIVE FIRE weapons exercise EXCEPT for the USS Maine. But USS Maine was lost at a time where the slightest error like letting coal fumes circulate around the ship (and ammo lockers) and igniting a spark would have caused the explosion. Today, ordinance has to be armed before it can explode, explosives are not as unstable as they once were.
Ships just dont blow up for no reason anymore not in the middle of the night when the crew is asleep.
And remember this is the Yellow Sea not the carribbean. Ther have been several minor sea battles between the Koreas, it was only a matter of time before a direct hit was scored.