Japan's principal naval yards already had heavy workloads. Smaller carriers could be assigned to other substantial yards that were capable of the work but remained outside the core programme. On the scenario's reading, political and personal barriers left some of that capacity underused. A light-carrier programme could distribute construction more widely, although the claim about unused yards remains an interpretive premise of the counterfactual.
Notable Point · 1:22:45-1:23:32
Small carriers could widen Japan's shipyard base
A light-carrier programme could shift work beyond Japan's crowded core naval yards and bring other substantial facilities into carrier construction.