Once the principal enemy force has been dealt with, the task shifts from battle to search. The capital ship has already spent time and fuel hunting destroyers and an unseen convoy across a wide area. Carrier aircraft can range out to find scattered merchant ships while the heavy surface unit conserves effort. If no carrier is available, a destroyer flotilla can spread the search across more sea. Distributed scouting is better suited to this work than asking one battleship to find every target itself.
Notable Point · 2:22:56-2:25:47
Carrier aircraft for hunting a scattered convoy
Carrier aircraft can search for scattered merchant ships more efficiently than a lone battleship, with a destroyer flotilla as the surface alternative.