Responsibility also rested with the captains who still controlled individual ships. Small, repeated deviations from the ordered line could have complicated Japanese torpedo solutions without dissolving the formation. Maintaining a straight course and constant speed instead presented the attackers with unusually cooperative targets. The fact that only four cruisers were hit is presented as luck rather than evidence that the American procedure was safe.
Notable Point · 1:10:20-1:11:14
Captain-level initiative was the last defence against torpedoes
Once Japanese torpedoes were in the water, even modest independent course changes could have disrupted their firing solutions.