Dalrymple-Hamilton took HMS Keith and the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla into a Mediterranean period marked by the Abyssinia crisis and rising tensions before the Spanish Civil War. Rear Admiral Destroyers Andrew Cunningham praised his aggressive handling of the formation. Exercises trained destroyers to operate independently, attack cruisers at night, and approach a surface raider from separated positions. The boxing method let ships take turns attacking without masking or endangering one another. Those years of practice prepared the coordinated destroyer pressure that the destroyer force later maintained around Bismarck.
Chapter · 1:17:37-1:27:24
The Fourth Flotilla rehearses anti-raider tactics
Mediterranean exercises under Dalrymple-Hamilton developed independent, night, and boxing tactics later used to contain Bismarck.