River Plate and Hood's chase orders as tactical innovation

What are good examples of naval commanders thinking outside established tactical rules?

Harwood's cruiser tactics at the River Plate and Samuel Hood's general-chase orders are highlighted as innovations that escaped rigid role and line-ahead thinking.

Commodore Henry Harwood's use of cruisers at the River Plate is offered as a modern example of employing available ships more aggressively and flexibly than their conventional role suggested. The answer then reaches back to Samuel Hood's general-chase orders, which helped loosen rigid line-ahead tactics. Hood's importance also lies in the officers who learned around him, including the generation associated with Nelson and Collingwood. The discussion cautions that genuinely original action can become hard to recognize once later navies absorb it into normal practice.