I was playing Rule the Waves, a game about pre-WWII naval battles. The game takes place during the era of flag communication so a lot of naval tactics involve "follow the leader" with the player controlling the flagship and the other ships doing their best to obey orders. This means you cant flawlessly micromanage your ships like in most RTS games. Even simple maneuvers by elite crews are going to be sloppy.
I was playing as France and got in a Jutland style main fleet battle with Germany. Our fleets made contact just before dusk. We trade a few blows with each other but soon spotting range is going to fall to spitting distance meaning it will be impossible to see the enemy or even coordinate properly with your own ships. But I see a chance. An older german battleship is out of position and I know that my flagship has a tiny speed advantage over it. I go to full steam towards the krauts hoping to drive them away from their fleet. Hopefully the darkness will make the main fleet unable to help them while my battleline tears them apart.
The German Zähringen class battleship is driven from the pack as darkness falls. The French flagship Brennus places itself between the Zähringen and the German High Seas Fleet. Brennus closes to point blank range so that the Germans can not escape into the darkness. 9 French battleships and battlecruisers are behind the Brennus, ready to deliver a devestating fire upon the lone German ship as they pass.
Then the Germans land a single hit on the rudder of the Brennus, causing it to veer wildly to starboard. During night the French battleline cant see more then the ship in front of them. They cant pass flag signals or make out the fleet as a whole. Instead they continue to obey the last order given and follow the leader. They wildly veer every which way to try and reassume their stations with other ships that are also steering wildly. The screening ships meanwhile sails straight through the battleline and then breaks in all direction as all the destroyer divisions suddenly try to figure out where the hell their station is along a battleline that seems to be going every single direction. Within minutes dozens of French ships, the pride of the nation, look like drunken partiers flailing about a pool. In the middle of it is the flagship Brennus which continues to steer in a circle in the middle of this maelstrom. The Zähringen slinks away into the night.
Oh wait, that was an epic fail not *own*.