Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars

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discuss how navies developed doctrine and incorporated ancillary technologies to improve the core technology’s effectiveness. The admirals who developed fleet tactics were busy men with little time to explore the possibilities of untested technology. They used their platforms in the way they knew best. Accepting new technology and integrating it into the naval tool chest were neither natural nor easy processes; doing so was risky and took conscious effort and dedication from advocates and supporters in the highest places. The ruthless pressures of war brought out the true capabilities of technologies. Under wartime conditions, apparently weak technologies such as mines could completely transform the use and even the raison d’être of an alpha technology, the dreadnought battleship. Even an alpha technology must be open to innovative use if it is to remain relevant. A theme that runs throughout the book is the idea of network effects. One radio is a novelty. Many radios in a network allow rapid communications for a variety of tasks and common understanding of the situation. Other technologies are similar. For instance, many radio direction-finding antennas provide more accurate locations and greater resilience against damage. Many mines are far more effective in constraining ship movement than a few that can be avoided. If Germany had fielded 50 more submarines when World War II began, the outcome may have been quite different. The limited application of technology produces a small effect, but massive proliferation produces a great effect. HMS Victory and HMS Dreadnought. With the ships built more than a century apart, the past meets the present in this 1906 photo. ( Gosportheritage.co.uk)

In their “Conclusion” the authors point out that the six different technologies had mixed military and scientific antecedents, hence, varied roots and evolution in different ways. Time and financial resources were critical ingredients in the genesis of technologies, which were mostly national secrets. One major exception was the Allied cooperation on the development of radar, while the competition for resources between air forces and navies played a significant role in both German and Japanese naval technological developments. Other summaries conclude that combat is the “acid test” for new technologies and the authors note important countermeasures such as the development of German guided weapons, how Enigma was compromised, and needs and uses such as radar in offense versus defense, as well as how aircraft limited the effectiveness of submarines. The book focuses on technological successes and the authors state four broad principles: 1) expectations do not determine best use; 2) users have valuable input; 3) needs influence use; and 4) new technologist bring new vulnerabilities. New technologies also affect tactics and new uses provoke countermeasures. New technologies do not materialize fully functional as from Aladdin’s lamp. History shows that a successful technology undergoes a process: invention, development, acceptance, deployment, and then a cycle of discovery, evolution, and exploitation. The capstone of this process is determining the technology’s best uses and then combining those with best practices for best results. In every case, the goal is a combat advantage. In 1904, 1914, and 1939, navies went to war with unproven technologies and experienced steep learning curves in trying to match expectations with practical and effective use. Should war break out tomorrow, the learning curve will be even steeper. Users have valuable input. Scientists and experts in general, believe that they know best and have a poor record of accepting user contributions. For a long time complaints from submarine and destroyers crews about torpedo performance were ignored, epecially in the US and German navies. This book examines six specific technologies that came of age in twentieth-century naval warfare and considers the way navies applied these technologies and adapted to their use. Technical details are not the focus here. What matters is the process by which each technology’s possibilities were first recognized, tested, and then used, or not used, to best advantage. This book will explore the principles that govern this process and consider whether these principles apply across platforms, nations, and technologies, and whether, if observed, they lead to victory regardless of the period or the technology in question and thus can be expected to apply to the technologies of today, as yet untested in peer combat. As part of this exploration, this book will also consider how human factors such as established practice, politics, and policy complicated the process.A goal of this book was to set forth the principles that govern the successful development, introduction and use of naval technology. It concludes in this context that: Identifiers: LCCN 2021052331 (print) | LCCN 2021052332 (ebook) | ISBN 9781682477328 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781682477335 (epub) anxieties regarding possible conflict with China.” —RADM Michael McDevitt, USN (Ret.), author of China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power “In our current era of artificial intelligence/machine learning, Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars, studies how the world's navies incorporated new technologies into their ships, their practices, and their doctrine. It does this by examining six core technologies fundamental to twentieth-century naval warfare including new platforms (submarines and aircraft), new weapons (torpedoes and mines), and new tools (radar and radio). Each chapter considers the state of a subject technology when it was first used in war and what navies expected of it. It then looks at the way navies discovered and developed the technology's best use, in many cases overcoming disappointed expectations. It considers how a new technology threatened its opponents, not to mention its users, and how those threats were managed. Cover: Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars by Vincent P. Ohara and Leonard R. Heinz INNOVATING VICTORY

Overall, the book provides useful insights from its analysis and discussion of key tecnological developments during the first half of the 20th century. It also provides some stimulus for consideration by those planning the future of navies, in an inceasingly complex and challenging world. One of the key messages from the book is the need for a combination of scientists and specialists to work in collaboration with the end users to ensure a successful and effective outcome.by the organizations that developed, refined, and employed them.” —Trent Hone, author of Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1898-1945 and co-author of Battle Line: The United States Navy, 1919-1939 “This is a marvelous book! O’Hara and Heinz have produced a Needs influence use. Different navies use identical technologies differently. The difference between Allied and German development of radar is a prime example of this. WASHINGTON and MINNEAPOLIS – Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced it will acquire a majority stake in Minneapolis-based Victory Innovations, a maker of high-tech electrostatic sprayers used to disinfect offices, airplanes, schools and other businesses. Given the limitations of the cases presented here, the authors did a commendable job of creating an accessible and readable volume that points out some potential pitfalls to avoid and techniques for developing technological advantage in wartime. The target audience is not the Department of Defense Acquisition Professional or the cadre of doctrine writers who will not be surprised by any of the book’s findings. Military enthusiasts, whether professional or amateur, however, will enjoy the book and should add it to their military history library. the technology for the purposes of ‘securing power at sea.’” —Dr. John T. Kuehn, professor of Military History, US Army Command and General Staff College and author of America's First General Staff: A Short History of the Rise and Fall of the General Board of the U.S. Navy, 1900-1950 “ Innovating Victory is a valuable augmentation of our