The player-controlled Japanese main group matches the opponent's three battleships and three battlecruisers ship for ship. The seventh vessel takes a wide route toward the enemy rear, using the extra unit to threaten a flank without immediately weakening the centre. The maneuver is the deliberate prelude to the later, partly accidental box formation and crossfire. It provides a compact example of using local parity to fix an enemy while a mobile detachment seeks positional advantage.
Notable Point · 1:35:34-1:36:06
Sending a seventh capital ship around the flank
Six Japanese capital ships hold the enemy's main force while a seventh swings toward the rear, setting up the later encirclement.