Why massed heavy bombers still struggle against ships

Would replacing a naval air attack with 1,200 heavy bombers carrying 2,000-pound armor-piercing bombs destroy the fleet?

Probably not efficiently; massed level bombing would expend huge tonnage while maneuvering ships avoided most bomb sticks.

Heavy bombers at medium or high altitude cannot maneuver like dedicated attack aircraft during the bombing run. They release long sticks of bombs across an area while ships scatter and turn away from predicted impact lines. The raid would place an enormous weight of explosive into the sea without guaranteeing proportionate hits. Aircraft numbers alone do not overcome the geometry of level bombing against mobile naval targets.