An early Japanese fleet collapse could redirect Allied priorities

Would reducing the Japanese fleet to a few destroyers by January 1942 help or hurt long-term American war support?

It could complicate strategy rather than end the war, potentially encouraging an Asia-Pacific-first sequence even though Germany had already declared war on the United States.

Destroying Japan's main fleet would not remove the work of retaking occupied territory and restoring communications. It could change the order of effort, but Hitler's declaration of war would still keep the European conflict on the American agenda.