Actually, the bulk of the IJN was in port most of the time. Sitting at anchor in Truk Lagoon, or in the inland sea, or tawi Tawi, or Singapore.
It was a bad place to be for submarines, and honestly, a poor place to sink ships. Remember that 6 of the 8 BBs "sunk" at PH actually just settled to the shallow bottom and were raised to fight again.
tater
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