“(27) The key to efficiency lies in the correct balance between organisation and method.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Efficiency Copy Share Image
“Signals’ prioritising mechanisms become dislocated in times of overload.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(19) Signalling promotes the centralisation of authority.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Power Copy Share Image
“(16) Incoming traffic can act as a brake on decision-making,” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Decision making Copy Share Image
“(28) “Doctrine draws on the lessons of history” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Doctrine Copy Share Image
“(21) Heavy signalling, like copious orders, is symptomatic of doctrinal deficiency,” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“The promise of signalling fosters a neglect of doctrine.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Doctrine Copy Share Image
“By the close of the Victorian age Britain’s officer classes were increasingly the inheritors, rather than the winners, of empire.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Victorian Copy Share Image
“Many of the more ghastly and idiotic aspects of the Great War were made possible by the coincidence of mass-production and the… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Great war Copy Share Image
“Fisher said, “to be a good admiral, a man does not need to be a good sailor. That’s a common mistake. He… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(5) The training establishment may try to ignore short bouts of empirical experience to preserve its ‘rationalist’ authority.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Fitness Copy Share Image
“Whether or not his remarks are fully warranted, they are a reminder that the “canker of a long peace” is a creeping… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Peace Copy Share Image
“(23) War-fighting commanders may find themselves bereft of communications faculties on which they have become reliant in peacetime training. Most forms of… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Communication Copy Share Image
“that (11) Purveyors of technical systems will seek to define performance criteria and trials conditions.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“steam-tactics saga illustrates that (4) Rationalism, unlike empiricism, tends to assume an accretion of vested interests.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Irrational Copy Share Image
“In all aspects of shipboard life, “guides, tables, reports, logs, books, inspection provisions and other methods of supervision were developed, mostly in… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Books Copy Share Image
“My comments are directed at the system which was responsible for their poor performance, not at the officers concerned. I do not… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Poor performance Copy Share Image
“The literal meaning of ‘doctrine’ is “what is taught within a group as its corporate beliefs, principles or faith”52 – although “what… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Doctrine Copy Share Image
“Thus was obscured the fact that his most essential contribution to British naval mastery was as a trainer of Collingwoods, Blackwoods and… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Greatest gift Copy Share Image
“Some of the most highly trained and successful military forces – Nelson’s fleet, Montgomery’s 8th Army, Wingate’s Chindits – were worked up… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Life Copy Share Image
“that the shaky premiss on which British fleets had, for two generations, been practised and led – the assumption that tactical signals… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“The way Jellicoe fought Jutland had to be consistent with the action-principles with which he had imbued his forces, and with the… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(18) The ‘centre’ must subject its own transmissions to the strictest self-denying ordinance, and, in this, seniority is critical. Admirals no doubt… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“At a time of deep naval peace, when social connections were a means to the top, when royal yachts brought career advantage,… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Peace Copy Share Image
“Some of them are blinding glimpses of the obvious (BGOs), several overlap, and I make no claims of discovery. The fundamental proposition… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Peace Copy Share Image
“Without a dedicated naval staff to define requirements and shape policy in technical matters, and, where appropriate, tap civilian expertise, the Navy… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(7) In long periods of peace, ‘ambient’ doctrine may be no more than the habits of the years in which war has… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Habits Copy Share Image
“Many notorious military blunders have been set up by poor personal relationships (if not wilful taciturnity) between key participants, the need for… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Blunders Copy Share Image
“Uniformity distinguishes men by rank rather than character; and “as ships became divided [in departure from central batteries] and gun positions more… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Individual responsibility Copy Share Image
“Vice-Admiral Scheer’s own confidential report to Wilhelm II. Here he made the tendentious, and highly questionable, assertion that “even the most successful… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Life Copy Share Image
“can therefore attribute the many reporting failures at Jutland to a cocktail of factors, including: (a) lack of initiative, and ‘seniority knows… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Failure Copy Share Image
“(20) There is an inverse law between robust doctrine and the need for signalling.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“Signals ‘capacity’ tends to be defined by how much the senior end can transmit, rather than by how much the junior end… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(24) Properly disseminated doctrine offers both the cheapest and the most secure command-and-control method yet devised by man.” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“would have been venturing into what Tryon had tried to reintroduce as their ‘secondary-syllabus’ duties, whereas all too many of them owed… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(25) Every proven military incompetent has previously displayed attributes which his superiors rewarded. Almost every” — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“(26) Peacetime highlights basic ‘primary’ skills to the neglect of more advanced, more lateral ‘secondary’ abilities, the former being easier to teach,… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Copy Share Image
“A service which neglects to foster a conceptual grasp of specialised subjects, will have too few warriors able to interrogate the specialists.… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Change Copy Share Image
“The one lesson to be learned is the necessity for every officer to cultivate belief in his own judgment, so as not… — Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon Faith Copy Share Image
![“My comments are directed at the system which was responsible for their poor performance, not at the officers concerned. I do not recall ever having taken part [before the war] in an exercise that was other than a set ritual, which, while not without value, certainly did little to prepare us for…” quote by Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12c/gilbert-andrew-hugh-gordon-156_poor-performance_my-comments-are-directed-at-the-system-w_497405.jpg)
![“Uniformity distinguishes men by rank rather than character; and “as ships became divided [in departure from central batteries] and gun positions more isolated, did we take enough trouble”, William Goodenough wondered later, to teach the mass of men a feeling of individual responsibility? – or did…” quote by Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/gilbert-andrew-hugh-gordon-156_individual-responsib_uniformity-distinguishes-men-by-rank-rat_1285096.jpg){kind=icon}
