Fisher's strategic aim was stronger than his proposed method. Blocking Baltic imports could rapidly intensify Germany's food and material shortages, but he tried to fit older favorite ship concepts to the plan instead of using specialists such as Murray Sueter to redesign it around aviation. In the age of sail, flag officers, ship officers, and women aboard, often naval officers' wives or daughters, copied orders and sometimes critiqued them. Industrial war demanded organized information much faster than this older practice could provide. Fisher's habit of handling too much personally had once been workable but now obstructed systematic analysis. Carrier aviation, army coordination, Danish reinforcement, and blockade logistics could make the aim plausible only if a capable staff integrated them.
Notable Point · 53:47-59:14
Fisher's Baltic idea needed a real staff system
The strategic aim of severing Germany's Baltic imports could be powerful, but Fisher's personal working style was poorly suited to the information and coordination demands of modern war.