How Robert English might have shaped the postwar submarine service

How might the U.S. submarine service have changed if Robert English had not died in the 1943 air crash?

Probably little during the Second World War, but his leadership could have influenced how the Navy learned from submariners and developed the postwar service.

Robert English's survival probably would not transform the Pacific submarine campaign. He died at only fifty-five after holding important commands, so several more years of service and promotion were plausible. His presence might have kept an officer associated with the Mark 14 torpedo problem out of South Pacific submarine command, although wartime promotions could still rearrange the appointments. The larger counterfactual effect comes after the war, when English could have influenced how the United States Navy absorbed submarine experience and organized the postwar force.