Force Z needed fighter cover more than better gunnery

Could a refitted Repulse or improved anti-aircraft armament have saved Force Z?

Improvements might help at the margin, but fighter cover from even a modest carrier was the more important missing capability because it could disrupt coordinated attack waves.

The answer credits Repulse's captain with skilful manoeuvre and notes that better anti-aircraft ammunition would have helped at the margin. The decisive absence, however, was fighter cover capable of breaking coordinated Japanese formations into attacks by ones and twos. Even a modest carrier air group could have handled the first wave until land-based fighters joined the defence. Earlier losses of Courageous, Glorious, and Ark Royal, damage to armoured carriers, and interrupted carrier construction combined to leave Force Z without that option.