It does bring up in interesting point though. Since in SHIV we can see battles if we are in the right place and time (I think anyway) what will we see if ships don't respawn ?
If we manage to sink the Akagi and Kaga on our first foray into Empire waters, and later on we manage to sink Hiryu and Soryu (Because with 1942 vintage MK-14's that's SO likely to happen..........

), who would show up at Midway. What would we see there in June of 1942? It will be interesting to find out.