In intention the two signals are as wide as the poles asunder.

In Rodney's case the idea was to sever the enemy's line and cut off part of it from the rest.

In Howe's case the idea of severing the line is subordinate to the intention of securing an advantage by engaging on the opposite side from which the attack is made.

The whole of the attacking fleet might in principle pass through the intervals in the enemy's line without cutting off any part of it.

In principle, moreover, the new attack was a parallel attack in line abreast or in line of bearing, whereas the old attack was a perpendicular or oblique attack in line ahead.
Nothing perhaps in naval literature is more remarkable than the fact that this fundamental difference is never insisted on, or even, it may be said, so much as recognised.