Useful range includes navigation, payload, and darkness

A single maximum-range figure detached from doctrine can mislead. British aircraft carried observers, beacon receivers, survival equipment, and other weight because long-range night navigation had to work over the sea. Swordfish could trade the observer's normal position for an auxiliary fuel tank, moving the observer aft and extending operational reach. At Taranto, leaking fuel reached observers' legs while they flew into anti-aircraft fire. The purpose of that range was to maintain contact, guide a strike, or hit first far enough from the fleet to break up the enemy's strength. A shorter paper range could be more useful when the complete aircraft-and-crew system could deliver its mission reliably in darkness.