During Operation C, Somerville launched a night strike toward the reported position of the Japanese carriers. In the account given here, an Albacore crew transposed figures while reporting its tracking information. The aircraft therefore searched the wrong position despite an earlier sighting by Swordfish crews. The comparison favors experience in finding and tracking an enemy over the promise of newer equipment. A successful strike is treated as a counterfactual that could have forced the Japanese carriers to withdraw.
Notable Point · 2:32:21-2:33:34
The position-report error that frustrated an Operation C night strike
A transposed position report is blamed for sending Somerville's night strike toward the wrong location during Operation C.