line abreast

— No sooner has the fleet settled onto this course than a small group of Japanese cruisers and actual, real, live, all-singing, all-dancing, all-features-included, protected-by-the-Emperor torpedo boats begin to move to cross the T of the Russian fleet. Worried about a torpedo attack on his lead battleships and determined to sweep this small formation aside, Rozhestvensky orders his main ships into a line abreast, a far-more-potent display of force that allows every forward-pointing gun on his capital ships to bear at the same time. Falling out of line ahead into line abreast does require a bit of skill and some clever handling, but three of the four leading battleships execute it perfectly. Unfortunately, Alexander III gets it wrong, and turns the wrong way. Soon enough, the rest of the line is piling up in confusion as Rozhestvensky tries to decide whether burying his head in his hands, slamming it repeatedly into the nearest bulkhead, or screaming incoherently whilst hurling binoculars at every ship in sight is more becoming for a man of his position. Wearily, he cancels the order and orders the ships back into line-ahead formation instead.