Carrier aircraft needed stronger engines because harder landings and extra equipment raised their weight. The Navy also bought engines for motor boats and launches, giving it related contracts and worldwide spare-parts networks that could reinforce aviation demand. Historically, once naval control returned, the Admiralty backed the Rolls-Royce Griffon and Napier Sabre because a Merlin-centred supply of roughly one-thousand-horsepower engines did not meet the heavier Fleet Air Arm requirement. The counterfactual does not assume an implausible two-thousand-horsepower engine in the mid-1930s, but considers fifteen- or sixteen-hundred horsepower attainable with sustained investment. The same procurement independence could produce several generations of true dive bombers instead of forcing the Skua to be labelled a fighter to secure approval. The Air Ministry's strategic-bombing priority remains a sincere defence doctrine rather than a cynical attempt to obstruct the Navy.
Notable Point · 1:18:41-1:25:10
Why naval aircraft needed stronger engines
Carrier aircraft carry structural and survival weight that raises their power needs, giving a naval purchaser reason to pursue more capable engines and specialized dive bombers earlier.