On promotion to captain, Dalrymple-Hamilton took HMS Malcolm and command of the Nore Reserve Destroyer Flotilla. The formation existed because the Royal Navy lacked the money and personnel to keep roughly 250 destroyers continuously in commission. Reservists needed practice, while laid-up ships had to be maintained and assessed for usefulness in modern war. The appointment therefore put him in regular contact with dockyards and linked personnel readiness to material readiness. Coming after he commissioned HMS Keppel for the China Station, it broadened his experience from working up one destroyer to managing a reserve formation.
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The Nore reserve flotilla links people, ships, and dockyards
Command of the Nore Reserve Destroyer Flotilla taught Dalrymple-Hamilton how reservists, dockyards, and laid-up destroyers sustained mobilization readiness.