Annual manoeuvres as doctrine laboratories

Repulse entered the Channel Fleet under Captain Burgess Watson, replacing the ironclad HMS Rodney. She joined Atlantic exercises, visited Germany for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, and repeatedly took part in annual manoeuvres. A collision with her sister Resolution caused no significant damage, while a coal-bunker explosion injured nine men. These exercises provided a setting where Royal Navy fleet doctrine could be developed and tested. Japanese observers could study British practice and adapt selected ideas while building their own navy, helping to contextualize doctrine later used at Tsushima without denying Japanese agency. American, Japanese, and sometimes French observers show how Mahan's ideas circulated through an international world of discussion and experiment.