1. The Etendard pilots were Navy. One of the most important skills drilled into any officer is ship recognition and you are trained to a very high standard. This is especially so for a Naval attack pilot.
Maybe so, but for Navy Officers, they don't seem to have realised that the high value target is going to be surrounded by escorts, so the first target they attack isn't going to be the one they want. Pop up, fire at the first target, run away and claim an aircraft carrier. The alternative would be to have a longer look and get shot out of the sky by a Sea Dart.
4. At the wash-up, they drew what they genuinely thought they had seen and which is what they were tasked with which was Invincible in this case. In my opinion it was a genuine case of mistaken identity, nothing more, nothing less. I agree with Mariano, they were not lying.
They told their seniors what they wanted to hear, which you tend to do in a military dictatorship.
'Now look here, chaps, this is our last Exocet so make it count and don't come back without sinking one of the carriers'. 'Yes, Sir!'
'We definately sank one of the carriers, sir! We flew straight down the deck and bombed it. It was already one fire from the Exocet hit'.