ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
Well, looking at the AA range and effectiveness curves vs. ship spacing (in Shattered Sword), as well as the plots of aircraft attacking (at least at the Battle of Midway), it seems unlikely that any ship but the one under attack is going to be able to contribute to AA defense. In fact, SBDs at Midway were essentially immune to AA fire until they would go into their final dive.
Not only that, but the text (based on the Japanese literature) specifically states as much.
Often, screening ships DID fire their guns, including their main batteries (even with BBs), but it was to attract the attention of the CAP that enemy aircraft were passing by the ship that was firing. They would also lay down smoke as a similar method of attracting attention - those smokescreens are unlikely to be of any other tactical use to anyone 10000+ yds away.
I dont think that the case of the DB attack at Midway is a fair case to loot at. The KB was simply caught flatfooted. From what I understand from Parshall, bombs were already dropping in 2 of the 3 cases before any AA fire was brought to bear at all.
Instead, I think its better to look at the TB attacks earlier in the day, as well as the strikes from Midway, specifically the B-17s. The 17s wwere under fire from every ship that could bear. The CV TBs, the "glidebombers" et al were fired on by at least a half dozen ships in every case as they attempted to pass through the KB formation to get at the carriers. Again, I am not insisting that this fire was anything like effective, in fact I'm startled by how small the effective fire ark was (according to Shattered Sword). My complaint is simply that I am not seeing the ability of other ships in the TF to bring their AA fire to bear in WitP.