Sims turns carriers into offensive weapons

William Sims used the Naval War College to push carrier aviation beyond spotting for battleships. Rigorous games let officers test carriers as offensive weapons in their own right, with control of the air beginning with elimination of the opposing carrier. Sims spread this habit of inquiry through successive classes of officers as well as through public writing. The resulting doctrine was simple and durable: find and hit the opposing carrier first, then launch the largest air group quickly enough to make that blow decisive. This argument connects early interwar exercises with later US fleet-carrier design priorities.