Torpedo bombers and the problem of sinking a ship

The Friedrichshafen FF35 represents the emerging torpedo-bomber threat in 1916, although reconnaissance remains aviation's main danger to a fleet. The case for torpedoes begins with two routes to sinking a ship: an uncontrollable fire or flooding that exceeds the crew's ability to remove water. Structural damage alone does not necessarily sink a vessel, as the example of HMS Belfast's mine damage illustrates. Torpedoes offer a direct way to admit water, while the small bombs carried by aircraft in 1916 and 1917 have limited destructive power. The target ships in the later American bombing trials had no crews conducting damage control and were not manoeuvring. Those conditions limit what the trials can establish about attacks on ships defending themselves at sea.