Tirpitz supplies an analogy for collective attack credit. The final air attack associated with 617 Squadron followed the earlier damage inflicted by X6 and X7 in 1943. Earlier damage could restrict what a ship could do before a later force destroyed it. A tally based only on the final blow would omit that preceding contribution.
Notable Point · 8:34:42-8:35:02
Tirpitz and the problem of crediting the final attack
Earlier X-craft damage and the later air attack illustrate why a sinking can belong to a longer sequence of operations.