Preventing another Victoria-Camperdown collision

What cultural change could have prevented the collision between HMS Victoria and HMS Camperdown?

Captains needed authority to depart from unsafe literal orders when necessary to preserve their ships while following the commander's intent.

The Victoria-Camperdown disaster was a command-culture failure as well as a manoeuvring error. Preventing a recurrence requires captains to place ship survival ahead of mechanically obeying an unsafe order. The service must also promise not to prosecute an officer who departs from the exact wording while still carrying out the order's purpose. That protection gives subordinates room to challenge or modify commands before obedience produces a collision.