I've always wondered what this conversation between Vader and Veers meant:

Vader: The Rebels are alerted to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system.

Veers: H-he felt surprise was wiser...

Vader: He's as clumsy as he is stupid.

Are we supposed to take Veers's statement at face value, that Ozzel's plan was to surprise the Rebels? Or was he just trying to quickly mumble any made-up excuse he could think of to try to save his colleague from Vader's wrath? Because I don't understand how arriving close to the system would be a surprise.

You'd think the best "surprise" would be to come out of lightspeed with the Star Destroyer's out of the Rebels' sensor range, then launch smaller landing craft (carrying troops, AT-ATs). Presumably these smaller craft could get much closer to the base than the Star Destroyers could before triggering the Rebels' sensors. That seems like it would be more of a surprise than what Ozzel did.

And what do you think Veers was about to say? Ozzel felt surprise was wiser than... what, exactly?