How destroyer flotillas cultivated extreme aggression

How often did ships try to run from opponents they considered dangerously aggressive?

Often enough to frustrate destroyer crews, in the joking answer. Their training encouraged aggressive pursuit, while exiled Allied crews and elite flotillas had additional reasons to press an attack.

Destroyer crews across the major navies in the 1920s and 1930s were trained to attack aggressively. Fast French destroyers and their torpedoes make flight from a pursuing flotilla an especially uncomfortable prospect in the joking comparison. British and American wartime crews mixed career personnel with volunteers, wartime recruits, and conscripts. Norwegian, Polish, and Dutch crews who continued fighting after their countries were occupied are singled out for exceptional motivation: they had chosen to continue despite uncertain prospects of returning home. Elite Tribal-class flotillas also imposed their own expectations on replacements. Newcomers tried to live up to the reputation of previous crews, potentially making them even more aggressive.