The Swordfish night strike that might have broken Kido Butai

What if British or American Swordfish operated against the Japanese in the Pacific?

British Swordfish already came close to a major night attack in the Indian Ocean, where radar guidance and Japanese lack of night aviation could have produced severe carrier losses.

A British Swordfish and Albacore strike during Operation C missed the Japanese because it flew toward the wrong position. Clarke's wargaming suggests that a successful night attack could have destroyed the two-carrier detachment and prompted a Japanese withdrawal. Attacking the larger group instead offered a less likely route to much heavier losses: damaged carriers and Kongos could slow the force enough for Warspite and the R-class battle line to close before dawn. Somerville was prepared to launch a second torpedo strike before attempting the surface action. British night-flying capability and radar guidance created this opportunity, while Japanese carrier aviation could not answer in kind. Daylight favored Japan, so British survival depended on defensive flying and withdrawing during the day. Destruction of much of Kido Butai remains an explicitly low-probability outcome within this counterfactual.