Admiral Dudley Pound sharpened Mediterranean Fleet seamanship with deliberately hazardous manoeuvres. Whereas Sir Roger Keyes had used polo to prepare officers for war, Pound tested them through close ship handling. With the king of Greece aboard Warspite, he ordered Arethusa to approach at full speed on the opposite course and pass as close as possible without touching. Vian called it a horrible manoeuvre, and water compressed between the ships swept across Warspite's deck. Pound also ordered the cruiser squadron through the gap between two battleships steaming in line ahead. The cruisers had to form on a line of bearing and steer a course accurate to within only a few degrees, with no time to work it out fully.
Notable Point · 6:14-7:05
Dudley Pound tests cruiser seamanship at close quarters
Mediterranean Fleet exercises sent Arethusa close past Warspite and threaded a cruiser squadron between battleships with exact course keeping.