Why a fleet should keep weaving

A steady night course can be tactically dangerous even when it seems safe and efficient. American ships at Tassafaronga and in similar night actions are described as steaming predictably through supposedly secure waters. British doctrine assumed there was no truly safe zone in wartime, so frequent course changes complicated an unseen submarine's torpedo solution. That precaution could also frustrate long-range destroyer attacks, although submarines supplied its rationale. The remembered First World War losses of Aboukir and Hogue support the warning: the ships' age did not remove the need to handle them carefully where submarines could be present.