Commonly found in the United States Navy, particularly in independent commands at sea, the doctrine is based on individual officers using their own initiative to execute actions unless the reported action receives a negative order, freeing their superiors from directly commanding every unit in a large theater and allowing them to focus on the bigger picture.
Most commonly found in the United States Navy,[1] the doctrine evolved in the 1980s, although a variant known as Auftragstaktik was used by the German armed forces in the Second World War.
Improved technology led to warfare moving faster, which necessitated a shift away from central control; a commander had to be able to focus on the wider picture, and would not be able to effectively do that if they were also dictating the actions of every individual subordinate.
Within wider naval engagements, however, the Officer in Tactical Command (OTC) still maintained a rigid control structure, because communications systems simply couldn't work efficiently enough to make loose and autonomous doctrines viable.
In addition, it allows individual commanding officers closer to the ground, with a better sense of the tactical position, to operate autonomously and contribute to the task force's overall actions.