The Sopwith Cuckoo was the first torpedo bomber designed specifically to operate from a carrier, which distinguished it from earlier floatplane torpedo bombers. The Royal Navy intended it for a carrier strike on the German fleet at Wilhelmshaven late in the First World War. That planning lineage continued into the later attack on Taranto, while British ideas had also been shared with American and Japanese naval counterparts. Carrier strike doctrine developed through circulating concepts and unrealised plans as well as through battles.
Notable Point · 31:11-32:03
The Sopwith Cuckoo begins a carrier strike lineage
The 1918 Sopwith Cuckoo was the first torpedo bomber designed for carrier operation, connecting Royal Navy plans against Wilhelmshaven with later thinking used at Taranto and discussed internationally.