How aerial reconnaissance might have changed Jutland

The weather permitted reconnaissance at Jutland and aircraft were launched, but their information did not reach the Grand Fleet because the radio link failed. From above, an observer might have distinguished a German withdrawal behind smoke from the torpedo attack John Jellicoe feared. That information could have changed his maneuver at a decisive moment in the battle. The counterfactual shows how communications, as much as aircraft availability, determined whether early naval aviation could influence operations.