The intelligence sequence behind Kantai Kessen

Reconnaissance could override every other cruiser requirement because each stage of Kantai Kessen depended on current intelligence. Japan first had to monitor the enemy fleet's approach, then direct submarines, aircraft, torpedo boats, destroyers, and other light forces in attacks intended to wear it down. Treating this attritional phase simply as Jeune École doctrine would miss Japan's own longstanding martial traditions of wearing down an opponent. A concentrated carrier strike would target enemy carriers before follow-up attacks weakened capital ships and cruisers. Only then would the battle fleet enter for the decisive gun action, making timing and current intelligence essential at every stage. Lessons drawn from Tsushima and Jutland therefore turned the heavy cruisers into the scouting system on which the entire operational sequence depended.