That tends to happen, in "peace time" (relative term as compared to wwii) battle efficacy doesn't get you promoted, doing a lot of push-ups and running fast does. If u look back to wwii, from 1941-1943 the navy got whooped pretty bad. That was what separated men from boys and we got guys like Nimitz in there and the war turned around.
Doolittle raid was a stunt, guadalcanal was a major embarrassment (the marines were abandoned by the navy and left to fend for themselves when pressed by the Japanese fleet) Coral Sea was a tie and Midway didn't go much better. There were also significant disappointments in the chain of command. Peace time holders of title and rank were not cutting the mustard. (In addition to higher ups, something crazy like 1/3 of pre war sub captains were replaced early in the festivities.)
We remember guadalcanal and Midway as turning points, and rightly so. But lives and blood are what checked the japanese advance in those battles. Not the military as a whole having it's shit together. Operational level guys and below who were in before the war started, paid a heavy price buying time for the big navy, big army and big marine corps to get spun up. It also took time to draft, recruit, equip and train a large enough force to beat back the japanese when the priority had been placed on defeating germany first.
Check out the story of torpedo 8. Midway was the island next on thier list after Wake Island fell. It was a big deal because the Japanese tried to take it from us and couldn't. Not because we whipped 'em.
Shit was dark that first year and didn't really start to improve until the essex class carriers (24 were ultimately built) and all those escort carriers 'entered the chat.' A better torpedo bomber and new hellcat fighters not to mention massive improvements in electronic navigation.
The carriers we had at the start were few and woefully inadequate. At one point during the guadalcanal battle, hornet was the only operational carrier in the pacific theater. Of the 7 carriers we started the war with 6 saw action in the pacific (USS Ranger stayed in the atlantic). Of those, only 2 survived the war. Saratoga and Enterprise. Loosing 4 out of 6 ain't good.
The doolittle raid was dreamt up by a navy captain. He worked for adm King and his suggestion was a response to FDR's request that japan be bombed asap following pearl harbor. The captains contribution was the idea of twin engine bombers launching from a carrier. Doolittle, a pariah at that point in his career, had been relegated to reserve status. He'd done good publicity stunts to raise support for the peacetime army while on active duty, so they called the lunatic back in on what many considered from the start to be a suicide mission.
Nimitz wasn't the only change at higher levels and it took time even for him to build a team. He is remembered as a player but was not one of the cool kids when war started and wasnt able to accomplish much early in the game because of it.
So, basically, idiots and bloats as always run things until the meat grinder happens.
Kind of like those in charge at the moment and new blood starting to take stage with more and more actually being MAGA like Senator Greene with local levels starting to see increase participation rates.
That tends to happen, in "peace time" (relative term as compared to wwii) battle efficacy doesn't get you promoted, doing a lot of push-ups and running fast does. If u look back to wwii, from 1941-1943 the navy got whooped pretty bad. That was what separated men from boys and we got guys like Nimitz in there and the war turned around.
What?
Doolittle raid, Midway, Coral Sea, Guadalcanal enters the room
And Nimitz became CINCPAC right after Pearl Harbor.
Doolittle raid was a stunt, guadalcanal was a major embarrassment (the marines were abandoned by the navy and left to fend for themselves when pressed by the Japanese fleet) Coral Sea was a tie and Midway didn't go much better. There were also significant disappointments in the chain of command. Peace time holders of title and rank were not cutting the mustard. (In addition to higher ups, something crazy like 1/3 of pre war sub captains were replaced early in the festivities.)
We remember guadalcanal and Midway as turning points, and rightly so. But lives and blood are what checked the japanese advance in those battles. Not the military as a whole having it's shit together. Operational level guys and below who were in before the war started, paid a heavy price buying time for the big navy, big army and big marine corps to get spun up. It also took time to draft, recruit, equip and train a large enough force to beat back the japanese when the priority had been placed on defeating germany first.
Check out the story of torpedo 8. Midway was the island next on thier list after Wake Island fell. It was a big deal because the Japanese tried to take it from us and couldn't. Not because we whipped 'em.
Shit was dark that first year and didn't really start to improve until the essex class carriers (24 were ultimately built) and all those escort carriers 'entered the chat.' A better torpedo bomber and new hellcat fighters not to mention massive improvements in electronic navigation.
The carriers we had at the start were few and woefully inadequate. At one point during the guadalcanal battle, hornet was the only operational carrier in the pacific theater. Of the 7 carriers we started the war with 6 saw action in the pacific (USS Ranger stayed in the atlantic). Of those, only 2 survived the war. Saratoga and Enterprise. Loosing 4 out of 6 ain't good.
The doolittle raid was dreamt up by a navy captain. He worked for adm King and his suggestion was a response to FDR's request that japan be bombed asap following pearl harbor. The captains contribution was the idea of twin engine bombers launching from a carrier. Doolittle, a pariah at that point in his career, had been relegated to reserve status. He'd done good publicity stunts to raise support for the peacetime army while on active duty, so they called the lunatic back in on what many considered from the start to be a suicide mission.
Nimitz wasn't the only change at higher levels and it took time even for him to build a team. He is remembered as a player but was not one of the cool kids when war started and wasnt able to accomplish much early in the game because of it.
So, basically, idiots and bloats as always run things until the meat grinder happens.
Kind of like those in charge at the moment and new blood starting to take stage with more and more actually being MAGA like Senator Greene with local levels starting to see increase participation rates.