The negative answer referred to offensive bombers, but naval officers understood it to include fighter protection. An Australian fighter squadron had in fact been assigned to fleet defense, while British intelligence had missed the arrival of additional Japanese bombers. Believing no fighters were available, Phillips chose radio silence and surprise as his best defense. His force was found only as both it and the Japanese bombers were turning back from unsuccessful searches. The failure arose from an interoperability problem: the Navy did not ask separately about strike and fighter support, and the air staff did not clarify that defensive aircraft remained available.
Notable Point · 35:04-37:46
An ambiguous air-support message hid available fighters
Force Z was told that air support was unavailable even though Australian fighters had been assigned to fleet defense.