The returning crews could not immediately determine the raid's full result through smoke, darkness, and confusion. They agreed that the seaplane base and oil depot had burned, but reconnaissance photographs were still needed to assess ship damage. A high proportion of the bombs had failed to explode because of faulty manufacture. The failure was especially bitter for a crew that repaired its damaged aircraft, launched alone, and then saw none of its bombs function.
Notable Point · 3:18:31-3:19:23
The bomb failures found in the debrief
The aircrews' debrief revealed that many bombs had failed because of faulty manufacture, limiting damage beyond the torpedo hits.