Formidable benefited from radar warning, Fulmar patrols, and the anti-aircraft fire of Dido cruisers, Tribal destroyers, and her own guns. The height of a carrier's radar installation extended its horizon beyond that of a battleship carrying the same set, buying useful minutes to position fighters. Italian and German aircraft often arrived in small, poorly coordinated packets instead of a single massed blow. That fragmentation made the layered defence more effective and also reduced the chance that several attacking elements would find the fleet simultaneously. Cunningham treated the carrier's presence as operational air control, emphasizing that driving off shadowing aircraft and frustrating strike coordination could save ships without producing a dramatic fighter kill total.
Notable Point · 11:28-14:35
Radar height and a layered anti-aircraft screen
Carrier-borne radar, fighter patrols, and escort gunfire combined to make small or poorly coordinated attacks far less dangerous than a concentrated strike.