Annapolis

Annapolis enters the narrative not as a developed setting but as a remembered place of instruction: Krause recalls hearing at lectures there that reversing an order can produce disorder. The lesson becomes practical when he weighs whether to cancel a convoy’s scheduled change of course, showing how an earlier classroom maxim informs command at sea.

A Place of Instruction

The account identifies Annapolis through Krause’s recollection of having heard the warning at more than one lecture there. It does not describe the city or specify the institutions or circumstances of those lectures. Its significance is instead intellectual: Annapolis is where the principle became part of the professional knowledge Krause carries into his decisions.

The Lesson Applied at Sea

As the convoy approaches a routine course change, Krause considers countermanding it because the ships are out of order and the maneuver might prolong the confusion. He decides against intervening: the convoy expects the change, and canceling it could leave ships uncertain about which turn to make when the next one is due. His memory of the Annapolis lectures gives shape to that calculation, while twenty years of service have shown him the principle’s practical truth. The brief recollection links formal instruction to accumulated experience, and makes Annapolis relevant through the judgment it helps guide rather than through any present action there.