Reginald Henderson supplied operational judgment while Stanley Goodall carried professional responsibility for making competing requirements fit a real hull. As Director of Naval Construction, Goodall had to approve the technical work and answer for failures even when subordinates developed the details. Naval constructors could support innovative solutions, but they protected those judgments with wave-tank and sometimes wind-tunnel testing. Exaggerated demands for guns and depth charges illustrate why the Third Sea Lord had to defend a workable compromise between specialist departments. Henderson's First World War convoy work and carrier leadership also challenge the idea that late-1930s Royal Navy procurement was directed only by conservative battleship officers.
Notable Point · 20:12-32:12
Henderson and Goodall turn escort demands into a ship
The Royal Navy's Third Sea Lord and Director of Naval Construction balance weapons, depth charges, displacement, and institutional demands into a workable escort.