Later carrier victories can make battleship investment in the early 1930s look irrational in hindsight. Contemporary planners had much less evidence. Torpedo bombers were the principal anti-ship aircraft for several navies, but their performance remained modest by later wartime standards. Even the Swordfish was a modern aircraft for much of the 1930s because naval effectiveness depended on the payload and delivery system as well as the airframe. Interwar procurement makes more sense when judged from the capabilities then available.
Notable Point · 19:55-20:47
Why battleships remained credible in interwar planning
Interwar torpedo bombers lacked the performance of later wartime aircraft, so carrier dominance was far from obvious to naval planners in the 1920s and 1930s.