Given his record, how would Günther Lütjens perform as a carrier commander?
Short answerHe would probably suffer information overload at first, though time and operational experience might allow him to become effective.
NotesLütjens was a capable smaller-unit commander who would initially struggle with the volume and variety of information entering a carrier task group. The comparison with Marc Mitscher shows the need to learn how to interpret reports at a much larger operational scale. Experience could make Lütjens effective, but German commanders rarely received repeated carrier operations in which to build that experience. Information overload was a command problem, and carrier leadership demanded more than ordinary ship handling.