Farbourne
Rear Admiral
At least as of WC1, it wasn't supposed to be impossible in-universe. Claw Marks indicates that Skinner and Dibbles were sent, alone, to take down a destroyer in a pair of Scimitars, and nothing in the article suggests that they were part of a larger strike force. The article also doesn't indicate that there was anything about this that would have been impossible or ridiculous to attempt.
Sure, it's not entirely safe to be making so many assumptions from what an article *doesn't* say, but...
I'm going from memory here (I'm at work, and Claw Marks is at home), but I'm 90% sure that the article said that Skinner and Dribbles were part of a larger strike team. Also, I'm nearly 100% sure that the article said that the attack "damaged, but did not destroy" the target (a Ralari), and that, while Skinner and Dribbles' presence would not have guaranteed its destruction, it might have tilted the scales. Since Skinner and Dribbles never made it out of their Jalthi encounter alive, and the Ralari was damaged, there must have been other ships involved.