Plans to attack ships from the air appeared soon after powered flight and had earlier roots in balloon proposals. Firebombs dropped from balloons might have threatened wooden ships, but primitive aircraft carrying small bombs were unlikely to sink modern warships outright. Planners therefore considered what a raid could do to an enemy's confidence and freedom of action. Aircraft over a supposedly protected anchorage could prove that the harbour was penetrable and make continued passivity costly. Naval aviation first offered a way to pressure a fleet in being before it became a dependable means of destroying one.
Notable Point · 2:13-3:08
Aircraft as a challenge to fleets in harbour
Early ideas about attacking ships from the air aimed as much at unsettling a fleet in harbour as at sinking it outright.