(It was taken for a discontinued "
The Anti-FaT" draft, with some adjustment because of the "POD no earlier than late December 1941" rule.)
Mark 14 torpedoes problems were fixed sometime on spring 1942.
May 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea - While Takeo Takagi’s Carrier Division 5 mistaken
Neosho and
Sims as USN’s capital ships as IOTL, Frank J. Fletcher’s TF 17 found Carrier Division 5 instead of OTL Covering Group/Main Body Support Force (with light carrier
Shōhō). Fleet carrier
Shōkaku and
Zuikaku was heavily damage, and Operation MO was called off immediately as a result. Some remaining planes from
Shōkaku and
Zuikaku did manage to took off following USN strike package and attack TF 17, both
Lexington and
Yorktown took a direct bomb hit. Surviving IJN pilots thought both USN fleet carrier were heavily damage, IJN high command brought their story and proceed with Operation MI/AL.
(Note: USS
Wasp [CV-7] stay at Atlantic for the duration of the War ITTL)
June 1942 - Battle of Midway - The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard worked around the clock and fixed both
Lexington and
Yorktown.
Akagi ,
Kaga and
Sōryū were sunk as IOTL,
Hiryū air group strike back at TF 17 as IOTL, but with the present of
Lexington, the CAP force were stronger than OTL, IJN planes attack
Lexington instead of
Yorktown, more planes were shot down and
Lexington suffer lighter damage than OTL Yorktown,
I-168 failed to find
Lexington.
Hiryū was duly overwhelmed and sank by USN counter strike as IOTL, but
Mogami and
Mikuma collision were butterfly away though.
Aug. 1942 - Operation Watchtower - Jack Fletcher decided not to withdraw, cover transports till they finished their unloading. SBDs on scout bombing mission found and attack Gunichi Mikawa’s Cruiser Division 6 at “the Slot” of Solomon Islands. Damages were slight but Mikawa decided to return to Rabaul. Battle of the Eastern Solomons play out like OTL.
Sept. 1942 -
I-26 torpedoed
Saratoga as IOTL. I-19 sank
Lexington (instead OTL
Wasp, which also hit by four torpedoes instead of OTL three) and O'Brien (DD-415) but missed North Carolina.
Oct. 1942 - Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands -
Yorktown join alongside with OTL
Enterprise and
Hornet,
North Carolina was also available, therefore USN processed even stronger AA firepower. By the end of the battle,
Yorktown and
Shōhō was sunk.
Shōkaku,
Zuikaku and
Zuihō was heavily damage, IJN lost even more planes than OTL.
13th Nov. 1942 - Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - William Halsey, Jr. decided to dispatched all three fast battleships
North Carolina,
Washington and
South Dakota (under Willis A. Lee's command) to Ironbottom Sound, alongside with OTL Daniel Callaghan's cruisers force. As a result, accurate radars direct 16’in gunfire annihilated Hiroaki Abe’s force, battleship
Hiei and
Kirishima were sunk. After the battle, Japanese GHQ decided to abandon Guadalcanal. Since by that point the oil traffic between Brunei and Dutch East Indies was seriously disrupted by USN submarines force, Combined Fleet settle at Brunei (instead of Turk IOTL), so that they could refuel directly.
With two more Carriers (
Yorktown and
Hornet. CV-12 was named USS
Kearsarge, and CV-33 was named USS
Reprisal ITTL) available for Allies, Eastern Solomon and New Guinea Campaign in 1943 played out about one to two months faster than OTL, and the Central Pacific Offensive began one month sooner than OTL.
By the end of 1942, Japanese knew they’re beginning to lost the “Tonnage War” (it also made reinforcement and supply oversea territories very diffcult, Allied casualty of Island Hopping Campaign would be less serious ITTL), they estimated that if the trend continued, at the end of 1943, sea lane between Japanese Home Islands and “Southern Resources Area” would be virtually cut off.
In order to prevent these strategic catastrophes, Japanese occupied areas of China and South East Asia
must be completely link up, so that a shorter sea lane between Occupied China and Japanese Home Islands could be used instead. Hence the
Tairiku Datsū Sakusen (大陸打通作戦). In other words, Operation
Ichi-Go, took place (and causing the downfall of Joseph Stilwell) one year earlier than OTL.Strategic wise, it only made South East Asia - Japan transportation form nearly impossible to very difficult. By late 1943, Japanese at home island were under harsh ration, worst among all major Belligerents. The fuel reserve was only enough for IJN to fight one last Major battle.
Fast-forward to May 1944, Invasion of Saipan and Battle of the Philippine Sea took place ITTL. IJN threw the dice and adopt an OTL Operation
Shō-Gō 1 like game plan: using the carriers task force as bait to lure away 5th Fleet, while the Battleships could took on and wipe out the 7th Fleet, alongside the Invasion force.
IJN air strike play out like OTL "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", while Raymond A. Spruance decided to pursuit and took out the Japanese carriers task force once and for all, he left Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee's TF 58.7 fast battleships to cover the 7th Fleet.
The night action off Saipan was the last all big guns action of Naval History. While
Yamato and
Musashi's main guns manages to inflict some damage on
Iowa and
New Jersey, but the superior American radar fire control made the different,
Nagato,
Kongo,
Haruna,
Fuso, and
Yamashiro were sunk quite early on, two remaining super-battleships were reduced into floating wreckage, and add insult into injuries, old battleships of the 7th Fleet joined the fray, some of them were salvage from Pearl Harbor, it's payback time.
Battle of the Philippine Sea end as a near complete annihilation of IJN.
Kamikaze became the only marginal effective mean to inflict damage on USN, but it can't prevent the liberation of Philippine.
By late 1944, Curtis LeMay took over both XX Bomber Command and XXI Bomber Command. He implement incendiary bombing
and aerial mining as well, the later condemn Japan Home Island into state of famine.
On New Year Day 1945, upon reading report of rice riot in Sapporo, in addition of cannibalism at remote villages of Karafuto and Northern Hokkaido, he decided enough is enough and order Minister of Foreign Affairs to covertly sent out peace feeler via neutral country channel.
After an intense debate, FDR's cabinet agreed to made a critical concession to Japan:
Kōshitsu would be preserve. By the end of January and on the eve of Yalta conference, Japanese throughout the Empire were heard the
Gyokuon-hōsō, Japan was surrender sooner than Germany.