Four rival Navy aviation visions united against Mitchell

Four influential American naval figures held sharply different views of aviation. William Benson was skeptical of roles beyond fleet support, Franklin D. Roosevelt used his Navy position aggressively, William Moffett promoted carriers and airships through the Bureau of Aeronautics, and William Sims used wargaming to explore the fleet's future. Mitchell united them by claiming that navies and aircraft carriers were becoming obsolete and that sufficiently large bombs could defeat battleships. His rhetoric gave ammunition to naval aviation's internal opponents, although their hostility toward Mitchell could outweigh their disagreements with fellow naval officers. The dispute was more complicated than an air-minded reformer facing an aviation-blind Navy. It concerned whether aviation should complement sea power or replace the fleet as an institution.