Royal Navy carrier doctrine favored rolling waves of attack

Royal Navy carrier doctrine allowed a concentrated blow without depending on a single large alpha strike. If circumstances allowed an attack like Taranto or Mers-el-Kebir, the fleet would use one. In a moving naval battle, however, commanders also planned to launch the aircraft available and follow with second and third waves as machines returned and were rearmed. Continuous attacks kept enemy crews occupied, wore down ships and anti-aircraft weapons, and made each quick turnaround operationally valuable. The Swordfish suited this doctrine because its reliability and maintainability supported the repeated cycle.