What HMS Eagle might have changed

Eagle was damaged by near misses in October but continued operating because the resulting aviation-fuel leak was not immediately apparent. Her Swordfish also supported an October attack on Tobruk in which bombing distracted the defences while other aircraft laid mines, showing that the Fleet Air Arm already combined diversion and minelaying before Taranto. Inspectors identified Eagle's fuel-system problem on 5 November, only six days before Operation Judgment, and some of her Swordfish transferred to Illustrious. A plausible two-carrier force could have fielded roughly thirty to thirty-six Swordfish and sixteen to twenty-four torpedo aircraft instead of the actual twenty-aircraft attack. Informal simulations illustrate how those extra attacks might have spread damage across more battleships or cruisers, but they are presented as exploration rather than prediction. Eagle returned to other duties soon afterward, showing how narrowly timing excluded her. The counterfactual remains grounded in aircraft readiness, maintenance, and the difference between paper strength and a launchable force.