Bacon explained that he condensed his earlier work partly so Dover Patrol veterans could afford a memorial volume, but his sharper purpose was to challenge Admiralty and official-history errors. He argued that surviving theater commanders should receive proofs before publication so they could correct inaccuracies and clarify disputed decisions. He pointed to the official history of the air war, whose editor consulted living officers, as a better way to preserve operational knowledge. Bacon remains both a close participant rich in operational detail and an author openly contesting the official narrative.
Notable Point · 15:40-17:55
Bacon challenges how official naval history was written
Bacon argued that official historians should consult surviving theater commanders before publishing accounts that might preserve avoidable errors.