Japan was unlikely to answer completed Montanas with another effective capital-ship building programme. Yamato and Musashi had already consumed extraordinary resources, while Japan still faced American North Carolinas, South Dakotas, and Iowas. Building more enormous ships might add hulls without changing the widening fleet balance. In this interpretation, the Second World War was an infrastructure contest in which industrial depth and construction capacity mattered more than a single superior design.
Notable Point · 57:50-59:10
Yamato’s resource trap in an infrastructure war
Japan’s possible response to Montana is constrained by the economic and industrial burden already imposed by the Yamato programme.