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Originally Posted by Olefin
think the Japanese fleet in 1943 after they pulled out of Guadalcanal. Both sides probably conserved what they had as much as possible.
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Not quite. After Guadalcanal, the Japanese briefly "conserved" their main battle fleet with the hope that they could force the "decisive battle" of their established pre-war naval doctrine, especially as Allied forces hopped closer to the home islands. Hence the massive, wasteful, and ultimately futile (for the IJN) battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf in 1944. Even after their fleet was effectively shattered, the Japanese continued an aggressive defense, sortieing a small task force organized around the super-battleship Yamato to oppose the American landings at Okinawa. Again, it did not go well for the Japanese. As a result of these slaughters, by the end of the war, the IJN had very few warships left and most of those were laid up in port to do lack of fuel or irreparable damage. This last point seems particularly germane here.
This debate re T2K naval strength c.2000 is interesting, but how does the number and type of surviving warships impact typical gameplay? Most campaigns are land-based and warships hardly ever play a part. Anyway, due to the lack of fuel (and probably missiles), it doesn't really matter if the USN has 10 or 20 or 50 operational warships because only a handful can manage to leave port for any length of time.
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