Channel Dash detection and planning assumptions

The Channel Dash account shows the German force exploiting poor weather, British air-to-surface radar problems, surface escorts, and continuous fighter cover. A Spitfire sighted the ships only after they had advanced far up the Channel, and its pilot did not report until landing, while a separate radar plot finally alerted naval staff. Operation Fuller had coordinated naval and air responses in advance, but it assumed neither a daylight attempt nor detection this late. Motor torpedo boats therefore fired from long range, and Swordfish attacked after their expected Spitfire rendezvous failed, without securing torpedo hits. The episode shows how a detailed response plan can fail when its central timing and warning assumptions prove wrong.