Surviving battleships and the Guadalcanal campaign

Mobile battleships at sea are harder targets than ships moored in Battleship Row, although deep water lets more Japanese torpedoes function as designed. A fleet action might therefore leave the United States with more battleships available even if several were sunk or damaged. If a substantial battle line survives, American commanders may regard those ships as assets they can risk in the Guadalcanal campaign rather than conserve on the sidelines. Their presence could change the surface-force balance in a campaign historically fought under severe cruiser and destroyer pressure. That possibility remains constrained by fuel, tanker capacity, and the forward-support problem created by any damage to Pearl Harbor.