Midway's torpedo squadrons attacked without their planned escort

Raymond Spruance ordered an immediate strike once the Japanese carriers were found because American and Japanese carrier doctrine rewarded the side that struck first. Waiting risked losing the carriers before they could attack, or at best allowing the opposing strikes to cross in the air. That alpha-strike orientation also reflected carrier designs shaped by the Washington and London naval treaties, constraints that affected even Japan when it paid only limited respect to the treaty system. Hornet and Enterprise TBD formations lost contact with their fighter escorts but continued because training and circumstance demanded an immediate attack. The aircraft had been designed to approach inside a coordinated air group, not to fight through the Japanese combat air patrol alone. Torpedo release then forced the TBDs into a predictable straight and level run in daylight, whereas British doctrine reduced similar exposure through night attack. Their destruction reflected the collapse of a combined-air-group plan and the vulnerability of the delivery method, not simply low aircraft speed.