Burke learned from delay, but his nickname has competing explanations

One explanation of Burke's '31-Knot' nickname begins with a cleaning brush blocking a boiler tube in Spence, limiting the squadron to 31 knots before Cape St. George. Gene Edward Smith's biography of Eisenhower gives a different account: after Burke mistakenly entered a minefield, Halsey asked what he was doing and Burke replied '31 knots.' The nickname's origin remains uncertain. At Blackett Strait, Burke hesitated after radar contact because he feared firing on a friendly ship outside its expected position. His later remark that about ten seconds separated a good officer from a poor one grew from that hesitation. The demand for quick decisions therefore arose alongside a real problem of target identification.