Japan has the early daylight aviation advantage, while the balance changes after dark. The Royal Navy's night-fighting doctrine uses aircraft to find and illuminate targets, then brings guns and torpedoes close enough for a brutal strike. Tribal-class destroyers can use gunfire and the fires it starts to mark targets for more torpedo-oriented ships. British prospects rest on the operational system around Swordfish, radar, flares, zigzagging, and close attack rather than on faster or more modern aircraft. That system could punish a Japanese force that had to locate and hit a maneuvering opponent.
Notable Point · 1:15:23-1:19:29
Night fighting and torpedo attack as the British edge
British aircraft, flares, close gunfire, and torpedo attacks offer an advantage at night against Japan's stronger daylight aviation.