The argument draws on Sturdee's experience of dispersed forces and his supposed reluctance to separate ships unnecessarily. Fifth Battle Squadron would still retain its own divisional function, but it would manoeuvre inside an understood common plan rather than trail the battlecruisers by miles. A roughly 24-knot operating speed is proposed as a compromise that keeps the combined force together. Close pre-battle contact with Evan-Thomas and his officers would reinforce that operational relationship before the fleet ever sighted the Germans.
Notable Point · 1:30:50-1:40:35
Keeping Fifth Battle Squadron in the formation
Sturdee's preference for concentration of force would keep the attached fast battleships closer to the battlecruisers, rather than treating them as a distant separate fleet.