Enemy Taskforces - Intercept or avoid?

Originally Posted by Tessa

The IJN fatal flaw was in its targets - they should have been flat tops rather than capital ships from the get go. The Japanese knew that the carrier based planes were going to be the decididing factor, but (luckily) had some holdouts that pulled the progress back allowing us to recover from our wounds and get back to full strength.

We see the world differently, which is fine.

In my view, the japanese missed the most important target at Pearl Harbor.
The fleet oil reserves went untouched.
Had those reserves been destroyed USA's problems would have been ten-fold.
Submarines patroling west of the Panama Canal, and along USA's west coast with the primary goal of sinking tankers, in my estimation, would have been sound.
If a big ship presents itself as a target fine, as they too used the canal.

Oil makes the world go 'round.
Churchill learned it. Hitler learned it. Stalin learned it.
And Japan went to war with USA because Mr Roosevelt threatened japanese access to it.