The box maneuver and coordinated torpedo pressure

The box maneuver placed four or more destroyers around a fast enemy capital ship, allowing individual attacks while preventing the target from concentrating on one threat. Multiple moving contacts taxed directors and lookouts, especially at night, and preserved opportunities for torpedo approaches from different angles. A possible encounter between Graf Spee and eight Tribal-class destroyers shows how two coordinated groups might attack from opposed bearings without crossing their own torpedo tracks. Salvo geometry sought hits whether the target turned, slowed, or accelerated. Dalrymple-Hamilton's interwar testing also connects directly to the tactics Philip Vian's flotilla later used against Bismarck.