Staff rides take officers and non-commissioned officers onto the ground of earlier battles. Land forces can relate past decisions to visible terrain, which makes the method comparatively straightforward. A navy usually has only open water, without equivalent landmarks or preserved positions. Maritime professional education therefore needs other ways to reconstruct the physical setting of earlier operations.
Notable Point · 2:55-3:24
Why naval staff rides are harder than battlefield tours ashore
Visits to historic battlefields help officers study earlier decisions, but navies cannot revisit an open-water battle space as easily as armies can walk the ground.