Miller's War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 examines the planning behind a possible war with Japan. In 1910, the General Board warned that repeated engagements could favour the Japanese fleet despite tactical defeats. Japanese ships could return to home dockyards for repairs, while the American fleet lacked equivalent facilities in the western Pacific. Accumulating damage could therefore defeat the American advance without Japan winning a single climactic engagement. The warning makes dockyard access and repair capacity central to the fleet's ability to sustain a campaign.
Notable Point · 4:47-5:18
War Plan Orange and the Pacific logistics problem
Edward S. Miller's War Plan Orange explains why access to repair bases could decide a Pacific campaign even if the U.S. fleet won its individual battles.