Peacetime governments understandably centralize headquarters because co-location and fewer sites reduce cost. The calculation changes in a peer conflict, where placing senior staffs together also concentrates fragile human expertise. Second World War experience suggests that over-exertion may remove more senior officers than enemy action, while geographic concentration makes simultaneous losses more plausible. Dispersal and succession planning are therefore questions of force survivability as well as administrative cost.
Notable Point · 1:00:14-1:01:59
Concentrated command staffs trade economy for resilience
Centralizing headquarters may save money in peacetime, but it also concentrates the experienced people a navy would struggle to replace in a peer conflict.