Could the battleships catch the Japanese carriers?

Could the American battleships have caught the Japanese carriers after a sortie?

No; their speed was insufficient to overtake the carrier force.

Chester Nimitz's judgment that the battleships could not have caught the Japanese carriers is accepted here. Leaving harbor would remove them from the target anchorage but would not solve the speed mismatch. An attempted pursuit also exposed the battle line to carrier aircraft without giving it a reliable way to force surface combat. Timely warning created choices without turning slow battleships into an effective carrier-hunting force.