A senior command should ask what happens when its preferred operational plan fails. The Royal Navy generally preserved second, third, and fourth options at least through professional discussion, even when those alternatives were imperfect. German force structure and strategic culture instead left the High Seas Fleet with few workable responses to a distant blockade. Scheer inherited this failure of contingency planning from the system and mentors that had formed him.
Notable Point · 22:51-25:15
Germany lacked a developed fallback strategy
The Imperial German Navy failed to develop usable alternatives when Britain refused to provide the close-blockade battle its main plan required.