How long does a navy take to build institutional knowledge, and how quickly can it lose it?
Short answerIt can take generations to build but can be lost almost immediately when the few people carrying it are removed.
NotesOne officer's career rests on a much longer chain of instructors and inherited practice. Each trainer depends on knowledge passed through earlier generations, so a mature capability may embody far more history than one service career suggests. Before the Falklands War, British expertise for coordinating naval gunfire ashore had dwindled to only a handful of people, forcing commanders to recover a nearly lost specialist at short notice. Removing the few remaining practitioners can erase institutional capacity much faster than a navy can rebuild it.