The closing argument challenges the claim that the Royal Navy knew little about carrier aviation. The service operated more aircraft carriers than any other navy during the 1920s and 1930s. The institutional problem was control: aircraft procurement for the Fleet Air Arm lay outside direct naval authority, while the Navy controlled the aircraft once they embarked. Carrier numbers and aircraft-acquisition authority therefore measured different capabilities. Particular operational failures should be assessed without erasing the service's interwar carrier experience.
Notable Point · 37:00-37:45
Carrier experience did not give the Royal Navy full procurement control
The Royal Navy's large interwar carrier force is distinguished from its limited authority over Fleet Air Arm aircraft procurement.