Would a more competent captain have saved HMS Courageous in World War II?
Short answerThe larger problem was doctrine and deployment: Courageous followed the anti-submarine textbook but should not have been risked as a full fleet carrier in a mission better suited to smaller carriers and sloops.
NotesClarke rejects a simple incompetence label for Courageous's captain, who was carrying out the prescribed anti-submarine operation. His comparison with Invincible in the Falklands concerns the difficulty of shedding peacetime exercise habits. For Courageous, he places greater weight on the use of a full fleet carrier, the shortage of sloops, and the absence of suitable smaller carriers. Those choices left an expensive ship exposed in a role he considers inappropriate. The brief Glorious comparison concerns readiness and the failure to keep a reconnaissance aircraft airborne.