A westbound Pacific Fleet would scout ahead and to the flanks, not necessarily behind toward Hawaii, where Kido Butai could be closing. If Japan struck Pearl Harbor first, the Americans would know what to hunt; going directly for the moving fleet instead leaves its searches pointed the wrong way. The era's American organization likely places Lexington and Enterprise forward to port and starboard of a concentrated, slower battle line. That arrangement gives the carriers useful scouting arcs but exposes the battleships to a surprise approach from astern. Kido Butai still has to locate a moving target, yet success would let it attack a formation that had neither the sea-room advantages of dispersal nor the salvage advantages of a shallow anchorage.
Chapter · 59:06-1:02:23
Kido Butai attacks the fleet from behind
Hunting the fleet gives Japan a chance to approach from the unsearched rear and concentrate the historical Pearl Harbor air groups entirely on ships at sea.