Carrier damage control depends on specialist knowledge

The losses of Courageous and Glorious removed experienced carrier damage-control personnel and trainees as well as the ships themselves. In this explanation, replacing those specialists by drawing staff from surviving carriers spread the loss of expertise through the force. A carrier's higher center of mass made an early list particularly dangerous and could require prompt counter-flooding. That response ran against the ordinary warship instinct to avoid admitting additional seawater until other options had failed. The argument about Ark Royal turns on an officer trusting general service experience over the carrier-specific response prescribed by the manual.