The cancelled Wake Island reinforcement

After Pearl Harbor, Kimmel began organizing a relief effort for Wake Island with much of the surviving carrier and surface force. William S. Pye promptly cancelled the operation because it risked a carrier battle. Both choices are understandable, given that the Japanese second invasion force included two carriers, two heavy cruisers, and two destroyers. An American victory would not necessarily have transformed the whole war, but an early loss of that scale could have forced Japan to reconsider parts of its advance. Kimmel's plan committed the surviving mobile force to an offensive response after the attack.