Comments on: Mission Of Honor – Snippet 59

By: Bob G

Bob G — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:12:42 +0000

@14 Shannon is a brilliant and experienced tactical officer, a “tac witch”, and was involved in many combat situations before being sent to head Bolthole.

By: Jeremy DuCharme

Jeremy DuCharme — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:01:17 +0000

@20 However the RN had the Napoleonic Wars to sharpen those Captains and know who those ‘aces’ were. The SLN has been at peace (barring any pirate hunting) for over a century since even the last minor dustup. How well would the RN do without that time to hone ‘wartime’ captains, or even know who they are?

By: Drak Bibliophile

Drak Bibliophile — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:04:20 +0000

I’d like to remind people that if you read the EARC or the complete book to not comment on anything that hasn’t been posted here.

A certain individual (not naming the person) posted a spoiler from the end of the book. Fortunately, the system held the comment (for some reason) and I deleted it.

By: Mark L

Mark L — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:13:51 +0000

@15 A better example might be the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. The United States Navy had about 20-25 captains. The Royal Navy had somewhere around 2000 on the captain’s list. While the worst USN captains were well above the 50th percentile of the British captains, the Royal Navy had so many captains that they could comb out 50 that were more capable than the best captain on the USN’s list. At the start of the war (with one or two exceptions like Philip Broke) these “ace” Royal Navy captains were serving in European waters, where they were more likely to fight the French, Britain’s active enemy at the start of the War of 1812. North American Station was a backwater where the dullards could safely be sent.

The result was a string of American victories in 1812 as USN captains, with superior combat sense, overwhelmed the British third-string captains. But by 1813 the Royal Navy was shifting its aces to North America, and the USN became less effective. The best illustration of this was the capture of the President in 1815. President’s commander — Stephen Decatur — was the USN’s most brilliant captain. To escape from New York harbor, he had to run a British squadron. Decatur succeeded in breaking the blockade, but ended up getting run down the next day by the British squadron. The squadron was commanded by John “Magnificent” Hayes, perhaps the best captain in the Royal Navy. Decatur got caught because Hayes was able to place himself within Decatur’s mind and anticipate what Decatur would do based upon Decatur’s past behavior and history. Hayes moved his ships where he thought Decatur would be assuming Decatur would not be returning to port and going where Decatur anticipated the British were unlikely to go. In other words, Hayes out-thought Decatur, perhaps the first (and only) time that the brilliant Decatur was out-thought in his career.

By: Grant

Grant — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:26:09 +0000

@TimC: There’s “technically inferior” then there’s what the Solly military hardware is relative to Manticore, which should require a new term.

Yeah, the Sollies could win with numbers and their current tech level… if we’re talking about enough numbers that Manticore runs out of ammunition to shoot at them. Otherwise forget it, they need to do some serious R&D or they’re just feeding their miltary into a wood chipper.

And what do you mean “allowing the SLN to get inside the Haven sector”? They can get inside it any time they want, it’s not like there’s a wall around it. It’s what they do when they get there that’s the problem.

By: TimC

TimC — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:10:42 +0000

@12
There are instances in WW2 of technically inferior equipment winning through numbers. Look at the Tiger and Panther tanks in Normandy against the Churchill and Sherman, and the 88mm AA gun the Germans used as an anti tank weapon, in the overall result these small numbers of superior weapons did not prevail. In addition the Allies were invading a defended frontier through the several beachheads- so the analogy with the wormhole is not exactly applicable. Now if it turned out (not having read the book) that there was a wormhole in, oh for example Torch, allowing the SLN to get inside the Haven Sector then who knows!

By: NewAgeOfPower

NewAgeOfPower — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:52:47 +0000

I have the new book… Incredible. Waiting another ~2 years is going to be such a pain in the…. behind.

By: robert

robert — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:34:40 +0000

@14 John–You mean “the TAC Witch” is not a tactician? I thought that she not only oversaw the weapons development but developed the tactics to use them effectively. In Honor Among Enemies and In Enemy Hands she is a tactics officer, if it is as I remember (which could be legitimately questioned).

According to Duckk’s blog David has just said that there are 5 more books ’til THE END. So at the current pace, around late 2015 it will all be over. Alas.

By: Jeremy DuCharme

Jeremy DuCharme — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:08:46 +0000

I’m sure the SLN has competent, even good and great tacticians. Somewhere if by dint of shear size and probability. The problem can be illustrated by the American Civil War. The giants did not start out at the top. Lee was a Colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant wasn’t even in the Army anymore. The head of the Union Army? George B. McClellan, a wonderful organizer and logistical man, and a complete disaster as a field general. The problem is the SLN has been at peace so long the empire builders, organizers, and logistical wizards rose to the top, and have fooled themselves into thinking that is all they need to prosper.

I’m sure the SLN is hiding someone of Tourville’s, Mike Henke, or even Honor’s level, its just that without the need for such brilliance they haven’t rose to positions they can effect the SLN’s policy. OTOH the SKM might be about to set a fire to clear out the deadwood above them.

By: John Roth

John Roth — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:12:07 +0000

@2 Richard Young.

David has said there will be several more books in the series. I’ve forgotten exactly how many, but it’s more than one.

@3 fredrick.

I believe Drak said he’d to to the end of June, so Wednesday’s snippet should be the last one.

@4. Mark L.

I thoroughly agree, it’s an excellent ending.

General.

Please remember that the SL has been riding on its reputation for a long, long time, and Mesa has been making sure that the people in charge are gross incompetents. What I’m wondering is how many of those reserve SDs even exist.

@13. Robert

Shannon isn’t a tactician. She’s Haven’s equivalent of Admiral Hemphill. You may be thinking of Lester Tourville.