Reginald Henderson, the long-serving Third Sea Lord from 1933, had already held senior carrier appointments, and other officers responsible for carriers also advanced to high command. The Royal Navy possessed more carriers and carrier tonnage than any other navy during much of the 1920s and 1930s. Its hesitation was not a refusal to develop aviation but a judgment that aircraft could not yet sink major ships reliably in every weather and at night. That threshold was crossed during the Second World War rather than being available at the start of the interwar period. Earlier reliable turbine aircraft would therefore strengthen an existing carrier constituency instead of creating naval aviation from nothing.
Notable Point · 2:50:04-2:52:11
The interwar Royal Navy was not simply anti-carrier
The discussion corrects a common institutional caricature by separating enthusiasm for naval aviation from confidence that aircraft could already replace capital ships.