The official account preserves small but revealing examples of operational friction after the battle. Seagulls repeatedly appeared on a screening destroyer's radar and were dutifully tracked by the gun director. At the same time, the Black Cat aircraft supporting the bombardment kept losing visual contact with the American ships below. The contrast shows that radar and reconnaissance created decisive advantages without eliminating false contacts, identification problems, or the practical effects of concealment.
Notable Point · 1:22:16-1:23:04
Seagulls and lost ships reveal sensor friction
A screening destroyer tracked seagulls as radar contacts while Black Cat spotters repeatedly lost the concealed American ships from the air.