The notable thing about your links is the complete lack of the world. You don't need to preserve night vision stuck in a sealed metal box without windows.

Pilots, drivers and people walking around do.

The article doesn't seem to have a specific context. It talks about being in the car driving, but also about being in bed trying to go to sleep.

I'm not saying that you should have blue lighting in your bedroom, we know it's bad. The author did little research before writing this, and invoked authority (the military) without being aware that you can invoke the same authority to promote blue lighting.

Oh I agree with you about the article. Even with cars she shows an example from BMW that rather spoils his point - that's BMW since they adopted lighting as decoration like everyone else, white with some red highlights. My old BM 5 series was a very orange place rather more like the aircraft cockpit illustrated.

In fact all my old cars were - because the first thing I'd do on buying was turn the brightness for instruments right down. With incandescent bulbs that meant they became orange. My current car reduces brightness but keeps colour that I really wish I could do something about.

And depending on the length of shifts on a ship, blue light might be useful in promoting alertness.

(Probably would be useful on a plane or helicopter, too, but would be balanced out by other concerns.)

Quite. If you're in a sub or control room you don't need night vision. If you're in a situation of needing both colour appropriately.

In a plane keeping priority on what's outside is needed - if you're flying visually. If you're instrument flying quite the opposite.

> You don't need to preserve night vision stuck in a sealed metal box without windows.

You do - because you may need to leave that box in a hurry to either evacuate the ship or to fight. Why else do you think the military do it?

That's a ceteris paribus line of reasoning, though.

If we assume, for the sake of argument, that red light inhibits alertness while blue light promotes it, then that might change the calculus to, "maximizing night vision preservation isn't as important as making sure that we don't end up needing it in the first place."

Presumably the people stationed in that part of the ship don't often get up to fight. Some may be at weapon stations in that control room, so they fight best right there. Other crew would be fighting with small arms if necessary.

This dissatisfaction with red lighting makes sense. When Flux turns my monitor reddish-yellow, I get sleepy. When I'm in a darkroom, I get sleepy. I wouldn't want to be sleepy in the operations room of a warship.