Interwar air exercises could give a misleading picture of which ships would face attack in war. Attacking crews sought the prestige of engaging cruisers, carriers, and capital ships, while overlooking destroyers. Rear Admiral Aircraft Carriers Henderson challenged those assumptions after his promotion. Destroyers also needed to be treated as realistic air-attack targets when testing the fleet's defences.
Notable Point · 47:03-47:31
How air exercises overlooked attacks on destroyers
Air crews' preference for attacking prestigious large ships left destroyers underrepresented in interwar exercises, a bias Henderson challenged.