Fast small craft normally operated at night, which reduced both their exposure to aircraft and the ease of identifying a fleeting surface target. The Channel Dash shows that the RAF improved but did not always coordinate anti-ship attacks smoothly with the Navy. Coastal Command also remained the RAF's so-called Cinderella service, limiting how confidently air patrols could be treated as the main answer. The exchange connects the coastal war to the institutional problem of making air and sea forces act on the same tactical picture.
Notable Point · 31:49-32:16
Darkness reduced the value of air cover
Small-boat operations usually took place at night, while uneven RAF and Royal Navy coordination limited how reliably air power could solve the surface threat.