Twenty-four aircraft did not represent everything Japan could draw upon, and more may have been held for defence of the home islands. The choice was an operational tradeoff rather than an argument for spending aircraft casually. If Ulithi was worth attacking, the raid needed enough strength to damage a significant part of the American fleet and buy meaningful time. A token force served neither the strike mission nor home defence.
Notable Point · 29:02-30:48
Home-defence reserves versus a viable strike
The raid exposes a force-allocation dilemma: preserve aircraft for Japan's defence, or concentrate enough strength for the Ulithi attack to matter.