As with many prominent historical figures there is not a consensus of opinion regarding Yamamoto’s skill as an admiral. Some laud him as an insightful strategist. "He was the outstanding admiral of his war. There is no question about his brilliant boldness. His judgment on Pearl Harbor was exactly right. It was his only chance to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet without becoming involved in the old fashioned, chess board strategy of Plan Rainbow Five, as less unorthodox admirals on both sides of the Pacific wished to do. He did not play the game by their rules" (Potter 312). However, some have called Yamamoto’s prowess as an admiral into question. Other than acknowledging his success at Pearl Harbor, some go no further. "It is difficult to see how Yamamoto can be called a great admiral, for his only great contribution was in planning the raid on Pearl Harbor. Even though the Japanese won most of their battles up to 1943, most of these battles were not fought under the direct command of Admiral Yamamoto, and when he did bring his combined fleet out, and carrier battles ensued, his tactics led to disaster. At Midway his combined fleet was too far in the rear, even more so than had been the case at the Battle of the Coral Sea; but he repeated the same mistakes again, at the Second Battle of the Solomon Seas and the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. Perhaps it was because, ironically, he was still battleship-conscious. At any rate, in Combined Fleet battles he never committed his whole force for a unified blow at the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet. Furthermore, he never used the whole of his Combined fleet when the Americans’ situation was so grave on Guadalcanal, and Henderson Field could receive plane reinforcements only from one crippled U.S. carrier. In small and large operations he burdened his fleet and lost valuable ships by never planning one combined smashing blow. Yet he, better than anyone knew time was against him and that he could not afford the attrition he was allowing the Navy to suffer" (Dulls 341-342). In either case it is reasonable to say that Yamamoto played a significant role in the course of history during World War II.