Roosevelt describes British warships as chronically undermanned, but raw complement figures do not settle the question. Some comparisons measure a British ship against a French ship with a more labor-intensive rig, making the smaller British complement look worse than it was. British crews also tended to spend more time at sea, while less experienced landmen increased the number of people needed to do the same work in some French ships. British ships could still be undermanned; the objection concerns how severe the shortage appears when unlike establishments are compared. Establishment figures reveal little about readiness unless ship design, working practice, and personnel quality are compared as well.
Notable Point · 14:34-15:39
Rigging systems complicate undermanning comparisons
British and French crew totals cannot be compared directly because different rigging practices and levels of sea experience changed how many sailors a ship needed.