[bjones22]

An interesting add-on here from Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast: The initial plan to force the strait involved risking a large number of out-dated ships, judged by Churchill and co. to be expendable in the context of their utility in the war. However the admiralty, who included a number of men who had served on said ships, shared an emotional attachment to the old-war-dog fleet which they had earned their stars and stripes on. Thus they were unwilling to fully commit the necessary expenditure for the plan to work (microcosm of why the greater plan failed).

A good example of ineptitude in war. Churchill was no saint, and I couldn't get to OP's article (hug of death?), but history is always viewed through a lens and is mostly op-ed pieces.