The magic of maneuvering a fleet as a unit

At least in the simulated world of sailing naval warfare, there seems to be great benefit of maneuvering a fleet of ships together, as if they were being controlled as a unit. You might assume that this means that the ships would be in a single line formation, but in Privateers Bounty, that is difficult to achieve and maintain. Instead, I'm talking about how Witte de With apparently fought the Battle of the Kentish Knock: in a informal line formation. In an informal line formation, ships are not lined up with bowsprit near the stern light of the next ahead, but all the ships are on the same course. When the fleet needs to change direction, in Privateers Bounty, the only way to go is to wear the ships (turn downwind), rather than to tack (turning into the wind). In Privateers Bounty, when you sail in one direction for a while, fighting to get further to the windward, and then wear and head back in the opposite direction, again trying to gain to the windward, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The fleet will elongate along the axis on which they sail. Some ships are slower, some have taken damage and are slowed. Wearing and heading in the opposite direction (or at least the opposite tack) will tend to bunch the ships. The slower ships will be at the rear, until wearing, at which point they are in the lead, and the faster ships catch up with them. Another key point is to moniter your fleet's contact point with the enemy, and maneuver the fleet to keep some distance between your fleet and the enemy. If the gap gets too large, close towards the enemy fleet. I keep "automatic fire on", as that is the default mode, anyway. Since your opponent is usually the Privateers Bounty AI, your positive control of your fleet can wear your opponent down, if you keep following the plan.