The final argument is institutional as much as technical. Senior officers rarely came from the tiny-craft world, and handling a boat early in a naval career was not the same as understanding its tactics or coordinating its operations. Crews therefore developed doctrine and operational methods while fighting. John F. Kennedy illustrates how an independent personality might fit command of a small PT crew better than the hierarchy of a large ship. With only a handful of people aboard and no peer department heads to consult, the boat commander led one compact team directly. Small-craft effectiveness depended on selection, command, and wartime improvisation as much as hulls and weapons.
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Small-boat doctrine had to be learned in war
Senior navies often lacked deep small-craft experience, leaving crews to invent doctrine and practise a more immediate form of leadership under wartime pressure.