Quote Originally Posted by Watchman View Post
Let's be honest here, though - the planes the RN was saddled with (largely thanks to the chronic, and *still* ongoing, inter-service rivalry with the RAF) were really pretty crappy, even by the standards of the time. The Swordfish was among the *better* of the lot, which is saying something as it was really pretty lackluster by the standards of period torpedo bombers...

Its successes regardless should IMHO really be attributed more to two or so foactors; first, the RN knew its business and trained its crews very well; and second, capital warships just plain were horrendously vulnerable to aircraft - as would become painfully apparent in the Pacific in particular. This was, after all, specifically the period when it began dawning to the more forward-thinking naval theorists that the aircraft carrier was rapidly eclipsing the big-gun ships as the core of fleet combat power...
Very true. It always has astounded me that Mr. Churchill was so keen to send the HMS Prince of Wales and company off on there own from Singapore, knowing what the RN Swordfish accomplished against the SMS Bismark. Did he not think that the Japanese had such a capability? Was he not aware of what thier aircraft accomplished in China? Perplexing.