RAKING

In the days of naval battles between wooden sailing ships, the act of "raking" referred to an attacking ship crossing either behind the stern or in front of the bow of an enemy ship at a right angle so that the attacking ship's cannon fire would go through the entire length of the defending ship. The damage from each such shot would be far more devastating than if the cannonball was fired broadside and merely went from one side of the ship to the other. To add insult to injury, the defending ship would not normally be at an angle to be able to return fire while this carnage was going on. In other words, this transaction would be a bad thing for the defending vessel.

Occasionally, a ship's captain (generally British), who wanted to demonstrate what a gallant testosterone-filled macho stud he was, would at the beginning of the battle intentionally expose his ship to the enemy vessel so that the enemy could inflict one free raking. Such captains risked receiving negative performance reviews from their surviving crew members. 

Actually, it was not so much that insecurity in his masculinity would provoke a British captain to voluntarily submit to a raking; it was more a function that the naval crews and officers from the United Kingdom were generally exceptionally competent in their craft and thus could successfully pull off such a stunt.