Shipborne overwatch and repeated patrol

The Royal Navy approach put a long-range patrol aircraft on nearly every cruiser or capital ship able to carry one. The resulting mission was maritime overwatch: an aircraft repeatedly surveyed an area to learn what was happening instead of flying directly toward an expected enemy. Reconnaissance was a more focused search along a likely threat axis. In a major fleet theater, carrier aircraft would normally take both jobs because recovering a catapult-launched floatplane could slow the formation. Away from those concentrated forces, the shipborne aircraft supplied an otherwise missing layer of awareness, making an unglamorous patrol role operationally essential.