World War I command, collisions, and retained confidence

Between January 1917 and May 1918 Dalrymple-Hamilton accumulated eight commands across six destroyers, sometimes shifting ships while a damaged command was repaired. The record includes Druid's collision with a trawler and damage to Murray's propellers, incidents associated with operating at unusually high speed. Rather than ending his career, these mishaps were followed by further commands, suggesting that senior officers valued his fighting qualities despite the material cost. He finished the war exhausted and hospitalized with influenza.