Yesterday I committed multiple fighter carriers. These had orders to support one ship and only one ship. The intention was the five of them would then engage the same target as the ship they were supporting. What happened then? They ignored their targeting orders and popped away an old how.
Answer:
By support it means that they will use the target list of the position they are supporting. After a couple of days of combat it is likely that the lead ship will have quite a few ships on its target list. This is even worse if the lead ship had an entire affiliation on its enemy list to begin with.
Do not mistake Support with 'Act as a unit'.
Question:
The question is therefore asking, how do I get my ships to 'Act as a squadron'?
Answer:
Make sure the supporting ships are supporting the lead ship and only the lead ship.
Make sure that all ships have cleared their target list (see order editor).
Make sure that the lead ship has only the target on its enemy list.
Drawbacks - if the targe buggers off, it all goes tits up.
There are other things that can be done as well, the key here is to learn from other players.