One can only hope that the relieved inspector of the German Navy understood at least something of the soldier's trade, otherwise he would have been a complete miscast.
In any case, he doesn't know much about foreign policy, and even less about diplomacy.
You can't pontificate at public appearances like in the officers' mess, and certainly not about a major crisis that raises strategic problems for the West that go far beyond the question of showing respect.
Unfortunately, it's not just a confused vice admiral who keeps raising doubts about Germany's position in the Ukraine conflict.
The fact that the German government is now apparently blocking arms deliveries from Estonia to Ukraine will fuel the old distrust that currently prevails in Eastern Europe about Berlin's Russia policy.
A few years ago, when the Kurds were supplied with weapons, even in the middle of a war, the German debate was already further along.
The fact that Söder and Merz are calling for Ukraine's NATO accession to be postponed shows how deep the tendency to appease has now reached.
Everyone knows it won't be coming any time soon.
But even for the Union today, a friendly signal to Putin is more important than standing up for the principles of the Western alliance.