Organic aircraft make Phillips's search far more likely to locate Japanese transports and give him both air and surface attack choices. If Force Z survives, ABDA Command can concentrate American, Dutch, Australian, and British ships around a carrier and a 15-inch-gunned battlecruiser. Japanese heavy cruisers would no longer possess the same surface advantage against that concentrated formation. The larger ships also offer staff and communications space that Karel Doorman's cruiser could not provide for a multinational fleet headquarters.
Chapter · 58:24-1:04:14
Carrier reconnaissance gives ABDA Command a fleet core
Albacore reconnaissance could find invasion shipping, while a surviving carrier and battlecruiser provide a focus for Allied cruisers and destroyers.