Suffren unexpectedly became the squadron's sole admiral after the senior officer at Île de France died. His captains had entered service through different routes and held sharply different ideas about tactical responsibility. In this account, the Royal Navy, Dutch Navy, and Spanish Navy had a stronger common ethos. The comparison explains why Suffren could issue aggressive orders without receiving the coordinated initiative on which those orders depended.
Notable Point · 21:26-23:18
A fleet without a common officer culture
Suffren's captains came from a disrupted personnel system and did not share the common expectations about initiative and engagement found in several rival navies.