A torpedo bomber intended to threaten Wilhelmshaven

The proposed strike was designed to make the High Seas Fleet unsafe even while it remained in harbor. British planners wanted to force Germany either to fight in the North Sea or to withdraw beyond easy reach into the Baltic. A mass attack by roughly 100 or 120 torpedo bombers offered a way to impose that choice without first defeating the fleet in a conventional gun battle. Admiral David Beatty has a stronger claim than many later figures to the parentage of carrier strike, even though his part was to approve plans already being developed in 1917-18. The plan was ultimately an exercise in logistics and exchange rates: Britain could accept aircraft losses more readily than Germany could replace a dreadnought.