In other cases, however, the action indicated in the Decision, though plainly indicating the commander's intent—that is, his calculated line of endeavor—may not have designated the numerous physical objectives as to which his effort is to be exerted. For example, the Decision "to interrupt enemy trade on the southern maritime routes" is quite clear, but what are the numerous exertions of force required, and with relation to what physical objectives? Immediately there is a perplexity. Guided by the analysis made in his previous estimate of the situation, the commander now determines what the physical objectives are, action as to which will contribute to the accomplishment of the effort. The sum total of the actions taken against these physical objectives is properly equivalent to the accomplishment of the action indicated in his Decision. He may not be able at this time to determine all of the correct physical objectives, but he can determine certain correct ones (for the method, see Section III of Chapter IV).
The correct physical objectives having been determined, so far as can be done at this time, the commander studies each thoroughly, developing the possibilities of certain effective actions (operations) with reference thereto. For instance, in the case of a commander who has been ordered to "interrupt enemy trade on the southern maritime routes", he might develop one operation "to bomb enemy facilities at Port X", and another "to capture or destroy enemy shipping along trade routes" (with an indication of the routes involved).
The operations thus developed are now listed in a definite sequence, in order to provide a proper basis for the further procedure. The commander may find it desirable to state them in their order of importance. Sometimes, however, it may be found advantageous to list the operations in chronological sequence, i.e., in the order of their execution. This point is further discussed hereafter ([pages 166] and [192]). The commander is at liberty, of course, to use either method according to its helpfulness in enabling him to visualize the elements of his problem.
The commander now considers the second feature: advantageous relative positions. He may already occupy an advantageous geographical location or locations (see [pages 64] (bottom) and [65] (top)), or he may desire to improve his positions in certain respects. An advantageous position might be between the enemy and his base, in order to deny it to him. Another advantageous position might be to windward of the enemy, for the purpose of making a destroyer attack under the protection of a smoke screen.
The commander now reconsiders, from the viewpoint of "advantageous relative positions", the operations deduced with respect to "correct physical objectives". As a result of this reconsideration, he may find that certain of these operations may be retained without change, whereas others may require modification.
Suppose, for example, that two of the operations listed are those noted above, viz:
"To bomb enemy facilities at Port X", and
"To capture or destroy enemy shipping along trade routes between the —— parallels of north latitude and the —— meridians of west longitude."
From the viewpoint of relative position, it may appear that the first operation is not affected seriously, if at all. Therefore, this operation may be left unchanged. However, the second operation may be definitely affected by relative position, because the best method of interrupting enemy trade may be to employ raiding forces in focal areas. Therefore this operation might be altered to the form, "to capture or destroy enemy trade by raiding focal areas" (with a designation of the areas).