Renown could not be expected to defeat two German fast battleships without accepting grave risk, yet forcing them away had already achieved an operational advantage. Warspite is recalled as approaching from another direction, raising the possibility that continued contact could bring her and Ark Royal into the action. A coordinated carrier strike would have combined Swordfish torpedo bombers with Blackburn Skua dive bombers. In 1940 the Skua's Vickers-developed bombsight made it a more accurate dive bomber than its later reputation as an inadequate fighter suggests. A successful anti-ship strike against the German twins could therefore have reshaped how the Fleet Air Arm and later historians remembered the type.
Notable Point · 49:14-53:20
Renown, Ark Royal, and the German twins
Renown's contact with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau suggests a counterfactual Skua and Swordfish strike that could have changed the engagement and the Skua's reputation.