Q&A · 3:00:12-3:02:37

Which admirals deserved latrine duty instead of command?

Aube's interruption of French capital-ship construction and Turner's handling of warnings before Pearl Harbor prompt sharply critical nominations.

Question

Which admiral would have been more useful cleaning latrines than in command?

Short answer

Fleet nominates Admiral Aube for implementing the Jeune École and pausing capital-ship construction. Clarke nominates Richmond Kelly Turner over the handling of warnings before Pearl Harbor.

Notes

Fleet's choice is Admiral Aube, identified as the main implementer of the Jeune École policy that paused French capital-ship construction. The alternative is Richmond Kelly Turner, blamed by Clarke for failing to pass on a warning that Japan might attack Pearl Harbor rather than the Philippines. He then jokes that Turner's transfer to Pacific amphibious command put a safe distance between Turner and Admiral King. Another participant explicitly questions how much of that explanation is hyperbole. The exchange conveys the participants' judgments and a joke about King's temper, rather than establishing the reason for Turner's appointment.