Inter War USN Planning - WWII War Plan Orange Evolution

I can highly recommend this talk from Peter Pellegrino (of NWC fame) with respect to teh evolution of the US naval strategy against the IJN aka, War Plan Orange (see below, Peter never disappoints):  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXal8JUqAfQ

00:30 - Introduction 03:25 - Wargaming Misconceptions 07:04 - War Plan Orange Explained 12:05 - Schools of Thought 13:55 - WW2 Naval Strategy 30:36 - Recap of Myths 32:08 - Interwar Wargaming 34:23 - 1932 USNWC Curriculum 36:08 - USNWC Influence 

40:45 - Conclusion

Especially valid in putting into the correct perspective the "Nimitz Quote" (see below, not using wargaming as the oracle's tool - but rather as a tool that could sharpen a commander's mind):  

War Plan Orange (Japan):

• Phase 1: Protect Western Coast of USA!
• Phase 2: How do you get to Japan ["The Hard Bit"]?
• Phase 3: Defeat and Invasion of Japan?

Fantastic though, the NWC finally goes Rainbow (see below, why have one plan when you can have four+, one of them has got to work, right?):

But at the heart of it all was the concept and practice of adversarial "gaming" .. 318 games [scenarios] .. and by god they did it every day when they were at the NWC .. learning how to play (a month of the school year) ,, both at a tactical, operational and strategic levels (see below, including multi-aggressor [even RN "Red"], multi-discipline [Sailors, Marines and Aviators] multi-spectrum [even testing out hypothetical ships] - respect and well done, that shaped the senior officer cadre for WWII): 

"And" they always finished with "The Battle of Jutland" (RN v HSF), turned on its head and into "The Battle of Sable Island" (RN v USN). Something I can perhaps aspire to use as a background campaign or scenario development for my 1/3000 Navwar fleets ;) 

Note: I did take "War Plan Red" as an "Atlantic Chase" influenced mini campaign to CoW in 2021:) 

Wargaming Book Recommendation

https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Wargaming-Detailed-Planning-Planners/dp/1682473767

Not cheap but I got the Kindle FREE sample, so if I liked it, I could safely buy it? And I did!

USN - (Another) Naval War College Video - Distance Learning 1963 Cold War Game Kit

I would love to see the detail in that manual (tantalisingly flicked through) and compare it to commercial wargaming systems: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmTy8kBB76U

Absolutely fascinating! Close to Harpoon and General Quarters but the attention to tactical turning was interesting .. they did provide dice alongside deterministic tables of hits/damage ,, what they used was up to the umpire 

On the "to watch list":

Evolution of War Plan Orange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXal8JUqAfQ

How Wargaming changed the shape of War in the Pacific: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeO81vzK0ck

Amazing You Tube Video: US Naval War College

What a find! Courtesy of using the same search technique as my youngest son came up trumps with this series of videos (old horse, new trick): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj42mzT06jo

The greatest respect to this institution (the US Naval War College) and the philosophy of playing wargame, front and center and not just skipping "a wargame or two" in "on the side" as specials for courses. It is remarkable that cadre of USN Officers that fought WWII, particularly the higher command, graduated from this institution with "chalk on their faces" from wargaming (see the video). Another "commercial/recreational" side was the popularity of Fletcher Pratt's wargame and the fact that it was in a way in advance of the NWC rules as it went further into the detail of ships as opposed to generic classes of ships.

I am hooked on this series of videos :)  

War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific War (WWII) - another FREE PDF (from the US Naval War College)

Keep reading Ed Caffrey's Book but please note ...

Courtesy of PaxSims another FREE PDF book with a very catchy and interesting title: Winning a Future War: War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific War.

Between 1919 and 1941, the U.S. Navy transformed itself from a powerful if unsophisticated force into the fleet that would win a two-ocean war, from a fleet in which the battleship dominated to one based on carrier strike groups. The great puzzle of U.S. naval history is how this was accomplished. Well-known naval analyst Norman Friedman trenchantly argues that war gaming at the U.S. Naval War College made an enormous, and perhaps decisive, contribution. For much of the inter-war period, the Naval War College was the Navy’s primary think tank. War gaming was the means the college used to test alternative strategies, tactics, evolving naval aviation, and warship types in a way that the Navy’s full-scale exercises could not. The think tank perspective taken by this book is a new way of looking at the inter-war Naval War College and the war games that formed the core of its curriculum. Although the influence of both the Naval War College’s gaming and of the college itself declined after 1933, most of the key decisions shaping the wartime U.S. Navy had already been taken. The two most important ones were on the role of naval aviation and the form the U.S. war plan against Japan ultimately assumed. As shown here, U.S. naval commanders successfully applied the lessons learned from war gaming to victorious operations in World War II.

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/publications-by-subject/winning-a-future-war.html

What are you waiting for? Download it!

Stop What You Are Doing And Read This .. FREE Wargame Book From The US Naval College

I do not know of a more inspirational wargaming practitioner and theorist than Matt Caffrey (see below, the long awaited book):

He is father of the universal Connections series of wargaming conferences over the last tree decades. He has summed his knowledge up in a book. In short read it and learn from a master. The book is available as a free download, it is that important. Please click on the following link:

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/newport-papers/43/

A big thank you to Rex and Stephen at Paxsims for sharing this. Seriously if you don’t want to read this you are not a wargamer in my eyes, the hindsight and revelations are profound.

Jutland Re-Fight done earlier this year (by the USN)

Now this is what I call a Jutland re-fight (even if they did use cards instead of models, Fletcher Pratt will be turning in his grave):

https://wargamingcommunity.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/battle-of-jutland-centennial-2/

But even the US Naval War College did not finish it! Respect for even hosting it though ;)