The Japanese, to evade American fleet carrier aircraft, started a strategy of advancing in the night, and retreating during the day, as early-war American aircraft were incapable of night-time operations.
Swordfish, however, being slow, clunky biplanes, were largely sitting ducks, but they were also robust enough to carry onboard radar even early in the war, letting them make torpedo attacks on enemy ships even at night, when basically nothing could actually shoot back at them.
In response, in the Indian Ocean, Japanese ships reversed course and attacked the British by day and retreated by night.
