British and Italian cruiser actions were comparatively even in daylight. At night, Italian perceptions of British superiority could exceed what British ships achieved, because finding targets visually remained difficult despite extensive training. Improving doctrine and the wider availability of radar gradually helped. A radar set did not need to control the guns to be useful: locating the enemy's approximate position narrowed the area that lookouts had to search. Detecting a ship and working out how to hit it remained separate tasks.
Notable Point · 56:18-57:29
How radar helped British night fighting before radar fire control
Radar could improve night engagements by telling lookouts where to search, even when the guns depended on other aiming methods.