For Courageous, the lesson is to avoid risking a fleet carrier on an under-protected anti-submarine mission built around misleading exercise results. For Glorious, the essential corrective is to operate with a senior-led group and keep aircraft airborne for warning and protection. Institutional responsibility extends to Lord Cork and Orrery, who should have formed a proper task group under Cunningham. Once Glorious sailed independently, however, her captain remained responsible for failing to maintain the air search that might have prevented surprise.
Chapter · 3:26:57-3:28:30
Why the two losses were avoidable
The final assessment attributes Courageous to misplaced confidence in pre-war ASW practice and Glorious to a failure to form a proper, air-covered task group.