Anti Flash Protective Clothing
Lu, the USN not having this clothing at the time of Pearl is incredible. This snippet I picked up from a documentary.
I'm fairly certain that anti flash gear developed from lessons learnt in WWI & most Navies were equipped well before WWII.
I understand from your post that this equipment was not introduced in the USN during WWII, or have I misunderstood?
RBF & IME, how do you feel the Jap torpedo, dive & high level bombers would have gone against the battle ships in open waters ? Were the the battle ships well equipped with anti aircraft defence ? It seems the Royal Navy ships were not at that stage of the war, in fact the Australian desroyer in company with Z Force, Repulse & Prince of Wales, was incapable of any anti aircraft defence whatsoever!! In adddition the force commander Vice Adm Sir Thomas Phillips was contemptuous of air attack as a threat to battle ships, an attitude widespread in the
Royal Navy at the time. Consequently the AA gunnery control system in service was useless on a good day.
The USN on the other hand had opted for the tachymetric system which was far better equipment. Would it have put the balance in favour of the battle ships ??