Review: Party on the Bridge
10th November 2024
American naval captains, like their British forebears, command a great deal of authority. In the US Navy, a captain is wholly and entirely responsible for maintaining the safety of their vessel, its crew, and accomplishing the missions that they are assigned. They have sole command of all aspects of their ship’s operation, from watch rotations to weapons employment. This tradition of sole command is so inculcated into Anglo-American naval traditions that it is difficult for us to imagine any other way of running a navy ship. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), however, offers an alternative system. Instead of being commanded by individuals, as US and UK naval vessels are, PLAN vessels have a dual command system, where a captain and a political officer assume joint responsibility for major decisions. In their report, Party on the Bridge: Political Commissars in the Chinese Navy, Jeff Benson and Zi Yang look at this very different system of commanding a naval vessel, examine its strengths and weaknesses and highlight how it may lead to misunderstandings when US and Chinese naval units encounter each other at sea.
All Communist countries do this. The Soviet Union was famous for stationing commisars behind their tropps with machine guns to ensure nobody tried to retreat.
For a hint of how well this works, read the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, available from Baen Books, Amazon, and wherever fine literature is sold. (Or watch the behavior of sampolit Putin in The Hunt for Red October).