The possibility intrigues me too Its quite tight the diagram is roughly to scale and there is about 330 yards clear between ships 120 yards long but it could be done If camperdown had arranged to pass just behind victoria it should have worked What we need is someone experienced with fleet handling who could give a view on whether it would work I think what actually happened to the other ships after the collision shows it would have been possible for the two columns to turn inwards very tight without colliding or crossing but only by taking extreme measures ie turning by reversing one screw Victoria seems to have signalled she was doing a tight turn without engines there were signaling devices to indicate if engines were reversed Markham seems to have started off with a textbook standard turn and then panicked too late trying to turn faster I thinkat the time the suggestion that the lines might have crossed was dismissed but then would a court martial made up of the people involved have come to the conclusion that there was a simple workable solution which would have avoided the sinking What I like most about the scissors is its elegance it is so in keeping with Tryons style Its not quite true to say the captains did nothing There is testimony that some at least made preparation for a very tight screw turn but their job was to follow the ship in front