Exercise pilots and remote-control operators tended to seek prestigious capital ships because simulated losses carried no mortal cost. A wartime attacker under lethal fire may instead strike the first available target, including escorts and smaller ships. Royal Navy exercises therefore reinforced the belief that destroyers would attract comparatively little air attack. The lesson is methodological: controlled exercises can create false confidence when participant incentives differ from combat conditions.
Notable Point · 21:36-23:53
How exercises can distort air-attack lessons
Target-drone exercises illustrate how peacetime incentives can produce misleading conclusions about which ships wartime attackers will choose.