Surviving Tribals could reinforce the Mediterranean, but the larger effect comes from every 4.7-inch destroyer and sloop contributing its main battery to fleet air defence. In a notional force of ten destroyers and four cruisers, only the cruisers' four-inch weapons historically continue above 50 degrees, while the alternate fit keeps the destroyer batteries firing too. The illustrative count rises from 32 to 93 high-angle guns. Their main value is breaking up massed attacks and giving manoeuvring ships and 40 mm weapons fewer aircraft to handle at once.
Notable Point · 1:41:32-1:47:10
How destroyers could treble a task group's high-angle fire
A worked Mediterranean example shows that enabling every destroyer's main battery to fire at high angles could raise a task group's steep-angle gun count from roughly 32 to 93.