Escort-carrier patrols and intelligence cover

Earlier escort carriers could have imposed losses on Focke-Wulf Condors and U-boats exposed on the surface. Swordfish production and existing anti-submarine practice made such patrols operationally plausible. Aircraft sightings would also give convoys a public reason to alter course around a wolfpack. That visible explanation could conceal the role of codebreaking and direction-finding information in the decision. Repeated aircraft contacts and missing submarines might then push German commanders toward the wrong explanation for Allied success.