What a balanced ABDA force could have changed

Karel Doorman had capable ships, but their composition did not match the task. Fleet warfare required destroyers, cruisers, carriers, and battleships to support one another. In the counterfactual, an earlier ABDA formation under Tom Phillips, with Doorman as his deputy and an available carrier, would have posed a much harder problem. Japan would probably still have held an advantage, but defeating that force would have required a greater concentration of resources. Submarines, a carrier, and destroyers could also have made an attack on Singapore much more costly.