A surviving Japanese surface force might have used the four Kongō-class ships to pursue the Eastern Fleet after a carrier strike. In daylight their speed and numbers offered a serious advantage, but a night action would have played to Warspite's radar and Royal Navy training. The two slower R-class battleships were notionally available, yet they trailed in Group B because of their speed and a shortage of distilled water for their condensers. Reinforcing Warspite was therefore possible in the counterfactual but far from automatic; if they arrived, the matchup became three fifteen-inch-gunned ships against four fourteen-inch opponents. The result remains open. Disabling Japanese carriers would have changed which capabilities mattered next without ending the battle.
Notable Point · 1:32:47-1:35:13
Warspite complicated a Kongō pursuit at night
The Japanese battlecruisers' numerical advantage would have met British radar, fifteen-inch guns, and the possibility of reinforcing Warspite with two R-class battleships.