Torpedo bombers prepared for battleships would have little useful work, while level and dive bombers could redirect toward airfields, fuel, and naval facilities. The first wave might still complete its assigned attack, but sending the historical second wave unchanged would make little sense once the harbor was found empty. Japanese decks would instead need to rearm aircraft for attacks on shipping and begin searching for the absent fleet. A successful infrastructure raid could still damage Pearl Harbor badly, but it would not reproduce the same deaths and destruction of state-named battleships that shaped the American public response. Attacking would also reveal Kido Butai's general position, allowing Lexington and Enterprise to hunt it and perhaps achieve the first carrier strike before Japan could respond. The choice trades damage to the base for the operational surprise on which the carrier force's survival depends.
Chapter · 1:28:46-1:34:33
If Kido Butai attacks an empty Pearl Harbor
The first Japanese wave would find few ship targets, leaving Japanese commanders to choose between base infrastructure and hunting the absent fleet.