Dalrymple-Hamilton commanded the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth from December 1936 to November 1939. His appointment placed an aggressive destroyer captain before the newest officers as an example of leadership just before the Second World War. Instructors and engineering officers delivered individual lessons, while the college captain helped define the character of the training. His priorities placed crew survival above mission success, alongside a willingness to demand exceptional performance from his ships. Many midshipmen and junior lieutenants entering wartime service had therefore encountered his example before joining their operational commands.
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Dartmouth and the culture of wartime officers
Dartmouth's incoming officers encountered Dalrymple-Hamilton's demanding leadership and his insistence that crew survival came before mission success.