The interwar warning about exercises also applies to contemporary undersea warfare. The Falklands War is identified as the latest conflict in which submarines and ASW forces operated against a near-peer opponent. Cold War and later encounters provide constant shadow boxing, but opponents are not actually firing torpedoes in those interactions. As the combat evidence recedes, doctrine depends more heavily on exercises, models, and assumptions. Present-day confidence in ASW systems deserves the same caution applied to interwar claims.
Notable Point · 2:35:09-2:36:23
Modern ASW rests on decades of shadow boxing
The distance from the Falklands War leaves much contemporary ASW practice grounded in exercises and theory rather than peer combat.