Britain forms multi-carrier hunting groups

With roughly ten fast capital ships and six or seven carriers available, Britain and France could organise three hunting groups rather than disperse ships in pairs. The groups would rotate, support one another, and merge for battle, while slower R-class battleships protect landing forces and provide fire support. Carriers focus on sea search and repeated strikes, because a torpedo need only slow a German ship for the other groups to converge. Britain had practised multi-carrier operations since the late 1920s, giving its fighter direction and fleet-defence doctrine an advantage over Germany's single new carrier. Sea Gladiators, Fulmars, and early Seafires would make a German air strike difficult, while exposed 11-inch ships and the carrier become the likeliest British targets. A damaged ship forces Germany either to abandon it or slow the entire formation, allowing even modernised Queen Elizabeths to join the action. U-boats are unlikely to rescue the fleet because submerged boats move too slowly to coordinate with a fast surface battle and surfaced boats are vulnerable to the British screen.