cjm, thinking about Pearl Harbor would’ve been a good thing to’ve done before “Pearl Harbor”. The carriers that EOJ had expected to catch there just by luck happened to’ve been at sea. These were the carriers that won Midway a half year later. Sans A-bomb, which we didn’t know then we’d ever have, a loss at Midway would’ve added a year or three to a war that would’ve perhaps included having to storm Hawaii in the Tarawa or Iwo Jima manner. Let’s not be overconfident. Overconfidence doubles the shock of a setback. Anyway, we ought to have 20 carriers, for starters. Too few means we have to protect as much as project. Like the German High Seas Fleet after Jutland –it stayed in port, too valuable to lose, and ended up scuttled.