At Blackett Strait, Burke hesitated after his radar operator made contact because he was not yet certain whether the target was friendly. He later asked a young ensign what separated a good officer from a poor one and supplied his own answer: about ten seconds. The lesson does not endorse reckless action, because the decision still has to be correct enough to avoid friendly fire. Prolonged indecision can leave a concentrated force exposed while the enemy acts. The episode connects radar information with command judgment: a sensor can reveal a contact, but an officer must still decide in time to exploit it.
Notable Point · 57:11-1:00:32
Burke's ten-second lesson from Blackett Strait
Burke's remark that ten seconds separated a good officer from a poor one grew from the problem of deciding whether an unidentified radar contact was friend or foe.