Takao, Yamashiro, and the attrition plan

Nagumo's later captaincy supplied the cruiser and battleship experience missing from his destroyer-heavy résumé. Receiving the new heavy cruiser Takao as her second commanding officer was a mark of trust, while the older Fusō-class Yamashiro completed his capital-ship experience. These commands fit Japan's layered attrition strategy against the only powers able to project major naval force toward Japan: the United States and British Empire. Japan needed officers who could conduct a controlled fighting retreat and make an advancing fleet pay for every mile across the Pacific approaches before a climactic battle.