The Type 79X installation aboard HMS Saltburn in 1936 used aerial cables between the masts and had limited range. Type 79Y aboard HMS Sheffield improved high-altitude aircraft detection, while HMS Rodney's early installation paired radar with a battleship already suited to close night action. The eventual Type 79B could detect aircraft much farther away and surface targets at roughly two to six nautical miles. Those figures show both rapid progress and the continued need to close the range before radar could control a surface engagement.
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Type 79's path from warning to surface detection
The Type 79 family grew from short-range experimental air warning into a fleet set that could also detect surface targets at tactically useful night ranges.