Beatty and Hipper bring different command weaknesses

Beatty made some sensible tactical choices, but his selection of well-connected staff officers and reluctance to delegate weakened his command. His failure to hand control to Archibald Moore matters later, when flag signaling and delegated authority determine whether the pursuit continues. Hipper was a methodical planner who struggled to improvise once events departed from his plan. Maximilian von Spee is offered as the commander Germany needed for the battlecruiser force, though he had been lost at the Battle of the Falklands. Dogger Bank can therefore be read as a command-and-control failure as much as a gunnery action.