Selecting commanders before their wartime ability is known

Senior officers have to be selected and trained before a navy knows how they will perform in wartime command. Their successors are already passing through staff schools and joining debates about aviation, gunnery, and torpedoes. The delay resembles aircraft development, where requirements for the next model are written while the current one is only entering service. An officer who excels at one rank can still struggle at another, making success in an earlier appointment an imperfect guide to future command.