Mountbatten's strengths did not make him a complete commander

Was Louis Mountbatten a good or bad commander?

He was politically skilled and competent with destroyers, but rapid promotion through family connections carried him beyond his strongest military abilities.

Louis Mountbatten was a capable politician and a reasonably effective destroyer flotilla leader. Those strengths did not automatically translate into skill at higher levels of military command. His family connections helped carry him from a comparatively junior destroyer command into rapid wartime promotion. His energetic pursuit of equipment could still benefit a base such as Pearl Harbor even while his broader operational judgment remained open to criticism.