it has been noted by beith that "glorious" was in a low state of readiness. the high crow's nest look-out position was not manned, leaving the observation task to the destroyers with much lower observing angles. only 12 out of 18 of boilers were in use, so she could not develop full speed (from to ) as fast as was required. most importantly, d'oyly-hughes failed to launch any aircraft to form a combat air patrol around the carrier group, reportedly to give the aircrews a rest. the previous commander always had some aircraft in the air. had he done so, "glorious" might have been able to spot incoming threats, or have been able to either turn and run or fight. no aircraft were even on the deck for a quick launch. in her hangars were 10 hurricanes and 10 gladiators from the raf, and her own nine sea gladiators plus five swordfish.