The rear then became the van, and the attack if persisted in would fall on the leading squadron with the rest of the fleet to windward--the worst of all forms of attack.

The only possible way therefore of concentrating on the rear was to isolate it and contain the van by cutting the line.

But in the eyes of our author and his school cutting the line stood condemned by the experience of war.[4] In his 'Observations' he clearly indicates the reasons.

He would indeed forbid the manoeuvre altogether except when your own line outstretches that of the enemy, or when you are forced to pass through the enemy's fleet to save yourself from being pressed on a lee shore.

The reasons given are the disorder it generally causes, the ease with which it is parried, and the danger of your own ships firing on each other when as the natural consequence of the manoeuvre they proceed to double on the enemy.