Q&A ยท 1:38:21-1:39:29

The fleet exercise that ended with a carrier ramming attack

One Atlantic exercise reportedly ended with destroyers and a carrier facing a battleship and submarines, followed by a simulated carrier ramming attack.

Question

What was the strangest result you have found in a prewar fleet exercise?

Short answer

An Atlantic exercise apparently finished with an aircraft carrier simulating a ramming attack on a battleship during a night action.

Notes

The reported outcome comes from a surviving reference because the exercise papers have not been found. One side retained a destroyer flotilla and an aircraft carrier, while the other had a battleship and submarines. In the confused night action, the carrier apparently simulated ramming the battleship when destruction seemed inevitable. The missing primary file warrants caution, though the account shows how exercises could produce tactically strange endings.