Eyck Freymann

There's a companion book called The Arsenal of Democracy, which is all of the military nuts and bolts that my editor was like, no way you're putting this in.

That's too nerdy.

But here's what I discovered in researching that book.

The wars that America has fought over the last 80 years have been land wars.

And land war has a certain character.

And war at sea has a totally different character.

And the basic reason is that war on land involves lots and lots and lots of units that are basically interchangeable.

And so it's attritional.

You're wearing each other down.

You're fighting along a long line.

You're applying pressure.

And there's an equilibrium and a balance.

And you're basically trying to hold up enough reserves with potential energy to punch through the enemy's lines.

and then send in the cavalry and their line collapses and you ride to victory.

So if you look at the maps of World War I, for example, the line doesn't move, it doesn't move, it doesn't move, it doesn't move, and then it breaks.

War at sea is different.

You have a very small number, a much smaller number of platforms, and they're much more specialized.

And so if you can take out just one or two of the enemy's vessels, specialized aircraft, specialized ships, the whole structure starts to collapse and the rest become easier to kill.

And that means that there's no real incentive to hold back reserves.

Once the engagement starts, it's incredibly intense and it's often decided in the first hours to days.