In this assessment, Ben-my-Chree's exposed anchorage was an avoidable error, especially for officers who had seen Ottoman artillery at Gallipoli. The Royal Navy did not treat that mistake as a complete explanation for the loss. Investigators repeatedly boarded the shallow wreck and asked why a limited artillery attack disabled a hardy ship and overwhelmed damage control so quickly. The answer centered on the way aviation fuel was stored and moved, and on the speed with which the hangar fire spread. This made one bad anchorage part of a general carrier-survivability problem that ship designers could address.
Notable Point · 53:50-56:00
The loss exposes aviation fuel as a carrier hazard
Royal Navy investigators looked beyond the poor anchorage decision and asked why a limited artillery attack produced an uncontrollable fire so quickly.