Pearl Harbor was far from Japan, beyond a position where the attackers could remain and interdict the base's supply lines. A larger operation with more carriers, battlecruisers, cruisers, tankers, and fuel might have supported third or fourth waves and waited for an American sortie. That commitment would also have exposed the carrier force needed to build and defend Japan's southern perimeter. The actual force was a major raid whose logistical scale and limited duration fell short of an all-in Kantai Kessen battle.
Notable Point · 1:11:22-1:14:28
Why the raid was not a clean decisive battle
Distance, fuel, and the risk to Japan's carrier strength kept the raid from looking like a full decisive-battle commitment.