issuing orders to naval formations?

Sorry to ask such an obvious question but with no user manual provided I have not found the answer to this...

Once I form a group of ships into a formation - how do I issue order to it? When I click on a the lead ship for instance, to order if to come about, it automatically is removed from the formation.

Thanks.

Select the whole group and click on the position to which you want them to move.

so - you have to re-select the whole group with each order?! What if your group is intermingled with others?

When you said you formed a group of them into a formation, I assumed that you had also grouped them together by pressing the 'G' key. When you do that, the group becomes selectable simply by pressing the number key associated with the group (1, 2, 3, etc.).

Ships group formation are completely unreliable i advise you to manually move each of your ships.

Agreed. It's a bit more work but it definitely pays off.