Yalu formation and flagship protection

Did the Chinese flagship captain disrupt the Yalu formation to avoid taking the lead hit?

The account is doubtful; the ships were difficult enough to control without assuming such a deliberate last-minute formation change.

The audience describes an interpretation in which the Chinese flagship captain changed from parallel columns to line abreast to avoid becoming the leading target. Such a maneuver would make personal survival, rather than fleet cohesion, the explanation for the disputed formation. The account is doubtful because the ships were already difficult to steer and coordinate under ordinary conditions. Adding a deliberate last-minute reformation therefore demands stronger evidence than the later dramatic account provides.