Air-support language and fleet air-defence lessons

The loss of Force Z involved a failure of coordination as well as an absence of fighters over the ships. British naval officers understood 'air support' to include fighter cover, while the local air command's refusal concerned unavailable strike aircraft. Mediterranean experience had also exposed weaknesses in fleet air-defence exercises that had appeared successful before the war. Those lessons had spread unevenly: experience against isolated aircraft left parts of the Home Fleet more willing to retain older practices. Effective defence required maneuver and gunfire together, preferably with fighters disrupting a strike at longer range. Phillips was an aggressive, capable officer working with the information available to him.