Force Z and the changing balance between aircraft and battleships

The Royal Navy knew the Mediterranean air threat, but that awareness did not make a carrier available for every deployment. Admiral Tom Phillips's support for battleships did not, on its own, make him ignorant of aviation; aircraft were improving quickly and the wartime tipping point between them and battleships was still being tested in combat. One example is a carrier strike whose commander also sent battleships forward in case the aircraft failed. Courageous, Glorious, and Ark Royal had been lost, while Illustrious and Formidable had been damaged. Replacement carriers took time to enter service, leaving Force Z to show how wartime attrition could separate doctrine from available forces.