Reconnaissance and spotting turn separate ships into a networked fleet

Interwar naval air warfare begins with finding the enemy before they find the carrier. A reconnaissance aircraft can warn the carrier of incoming bombers so Fairey Flycatchers launch in time, or report an enemy ship quickly enough for a strike force to act. Spotters also correct battleship gunfire, allowing the fleet's heaviest weapons to engage more accurately beyond direct visual judgment from the ship. A World of Warships spotter-aircraft comparison illustrates the accuracy benefit, although a real commander lacked the game's god's-eye view. Communications connect aircraft, carriers, fighters, and surface combatants so their combined effect exceeds the sum of the individual platforms. The comparison with Nelson's signal flags shows that networked warfare is an old command problem even though modern systems move far more data.