British carrier aircraft would attack Graf Zeppelin first, before concentrating on the German battleships. A possible result is a sunk carrier and damaged, slower capital ships. If those ships were slowed enough, three or four King George Vs, perhaps three Queen Elizabeths, and one Nelson-class battleship could close the following day. This is a conditional battle sequence, with the surface action depending on the results of the night strikes. If Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Graf Zeppelin were destroyed, Scharnhorst would become the main immediate Atlantic threat only under the further assumption that Gneisenau was undergoing her probable 15-inch-gun conversion and other work. Such losses would reduce the forces Britain needed to retain in the Atlantic.
Notable Point · 1:03:16-1:05:07
Attacking Graf Zeppelin before the German battleships
British carriers would prioritize their German counterpart, then damaged battleships could face a much larger surface force in daylight.