Operation A-Go grew from Japan's hope of repeating Pearl Harbor against American carriers. Even a severe tactical success would have met American industrial replacement capacity, delaying the campaign instead of reversing the war. Jutland provides the comparison: Germany struggled to replace losses, while Britain had a much larger construction programme behind its fleet. Winning a raid and changing the material balance of a campaign were different problems.
Chapter · 5:34-9:17
Operation A-Go and the limits of a second Pearl Harbor
Even a successful carrier strike could only delay American operations because US replacement capacity made a war-reversing result implausible in 1944.