Interwar bombing demonstrations did not establish that aircraft could already replace battleships in combat. A stationary target with no crew performing damage control removed several of the hardest operational problems. Unopposed aircraft flying predictable approaches also said little about delivery accuracy against a maneuvering, defended ship. The defensible conclusion was narrower: aircraft might sink a battleship, but these test conditions could not show how reliably they would do so in battle.
Notable Point · 9:19-10:42
Why interwar battleship-bombing tests could mislead
Stationary, unmanned, and uncontested target ships could demonstrate that bombs damaged battleships without reproducing the conditions of a fleet action.