Trouble is that everybody wants to beat the BF 109E of 1939-40 when what was "known" (darn little actually) in 1937-38 was Jumo 210 powered 109B-C-D with about 700hp and two to four 7.9mm machine guns.
We keep forgetting the Sea Gladiator was NOT what the FAA wanted, it was what they could get while the Fulmar was in development, and the Fulmar wasn't what the FAA really wanted. What they wanted was the plane that would turn into the Firefly.
From wike so corrections are welcome.
"
During 1938, by which point British authorities were preparing for the likelihood of a
major conflict, the
Air Ministry issued a pair of specifications calling for naval fighters, a conventional and a "
turret fighter". The performance requirements for both was to be able to attain a speed of 275 knots while flying at 15,000 ft and carrying an armament, for the conventional fighter, of eight 0.303
Browning machine guns or four 20mm
Hispano cannon.
This aircraft would replace the Fairey Fulmar, which had been viewed as an interim design. These specifications were updated during the following year, while several British manufacturers
tendered their ideas. Further changes to the official specification followed, such as the turret fighter specification being eliminated entirely, while a modified specification was issued to cover single and dual-seat fighters capable of 330 and 300 knots respectively."
Now for a variety of reasons, some good, some not so good the first firefly takes to the air 22 December 1941 for the first time.
Working our way backwards,
The Fulmar was also "designed" to a 1938 specification (but talks/plans started in 1937) , but since the it was simply a navalized version of the Fairey P.4/34 dive bomber which was already flying (first flight of the P-4/34 was Jan 13th 1937) so amount of design and development was not that great (?) it still took from mid 1938 when an order for 127 planes was placed until Jan of 1940 for the first production example to fly.
The Sea Gladiator fits in as the FAA (or Admiralty) wants a plane in 1937 to replace the 4 year old Nimrods and with the knowledge that Skua
won't do the job required. They are already estimating that the Fulmar won't join the fleet until 1940 so
they need something fast. This rather rules out rolling an old prototype, out of hanger, dusting it off and trying to navalize it and put it into production. As it was the first 38 Sea Hurricanes only got an arresting hook and a naval radio and were intended for use on shore bases for training. The next 60 Sea Hurricane IIs got catapult points, a survival dinghy and a few other bits of minor kit. and that was it. No more Sea Gladiators. Coming up with a program to turn one of the old RAF prototypes into a naval fighter runs into the problem of timing (work starts when?) and when would such planes actually become available. 2 or more years after the go ahead is given?
The Gladiator was very much an interim fighter, it was also very much a transitional fighter from the Nimrod, Gauntlet and Fury in that it had an enclosed canopy, it had wheel brakes, it had sprung wheels with better shock absorption than than older biplanes and perhaps even more importantly, it was the first RAF (and FAA) fighter to use landing flaps. Yes it didn't have retracting landing gear but it did have most everything else.