Nagumo's decision to stop after two waves can be read through the raid's conflicting strategic aims. The damage exceeded many Japanese expectations and removed too much American strength for an immediate westward charge. Additional waves could have delayed American operations by months and better served an ambush strategy intended to cripple the fleet in detail, but they would have made an attritional lure still less coherent. A political paradox followed: destroying every battleship could make the lost ships seem like the decisive weapons Japan had feared. That perception might accelerate Iowa- and Montana-class construction instead of teaching the United States to abandon the battle line.
Notable Point · 27:08-29:08
Nagumo's two waves sat between incompatible strategies
Stopping after two waves had already done too much damage for a lure, yet not enough for an attempt to cripple the Pacific Fleet completely.