Comments by "" (@VersusARCH) on "The Drydock - Episode 071" video.

@Drachinifel Drachinifel I agree that the actual admirals in command of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War battles were not that bad (that is why I did not say Rozhestvensky, Makarov or Vitgeft). I was referring to pre-war admirals in charge of the fleet who certainly are at least in part to blame for the sorry state of the Russian navy crews. And it indeed was a system failure hence it would be difficult to pinpoint a single culprit, so yes exclusion of that bit I can agree on. Our disagreement seems to be a difference in emphasis on overall impact of their mistakes (favored by me) vs the level of personal failing they displayed in action against their training and experience (favored by you). Given the topic I guess you have merit in such reasoning, although, since they are all fairly famous admirals: their fame does come from the impact they had. I wonder how many less well known naval commanders who perhaps never even went to war were even worse - and replaced before they could do (more) serious damage (Honda point disaster-style)
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For the worst admirals, I think you named some pretty decent ones who simply made some mistakes (Hotham, Beaty, Halsey, Iachino). How about the French commander at the Battle of Sluys? He got his superior fleet utterly destroyed. Or the commander of the Spanish Armada? Or the Russian admirals who managed to make a system that allowed the crew competence of the Baltic Fleet to deteriorate to an all time low prior to the Russo Japanese war? Or the Ottoman admiral who lost the battle of Chesma?
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@LostShipMate HMS Eagle, MN Bearn
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@Drachinifel That is a good criteria (that I used too), to which some of the alternatives I proposed fit better than the admirals whose inclusion I stated my objection for - mostly on the impact basis> French win Sluys - likely avoid much of the Hundred Years' War altogether, Spanish Armada manages to land troops and maintain the supply route - good chance of a Spanish conquest of England. Incompetence on lower levels, particularly in the navy was the single biggest cause of Russia's loss of the Russo-Japanese War which had farther reaching consequences than often being given credit for (Feb. revolution, the need to compensate the loss by winning elsewhere - Balkans... - rise of Japan...). And likewise the defeat of a superior Ottoman navy at Chesma had far reaching consequences for the Black Sea region.
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