1942 / Philippines
The American defence of the Philippines can be described in one word: pathetic. Nothing had went right for the Americans and everything had seemed to just fall in place for the Japanese as they quickly routed the green, undertrained, and inexperienced mix of Filipinos, National Guardsmen, non-combat troops, constabulary, and newly created Commonwealth units, pushing them back from the beaches with the Americans unable to hold back the flood of Japanese troops. It wasn't before long when General MacArthur enacted War Plan Orange 3 and ordered the withdraw of all remaining army units onto Bataan, where they are expected to hold out into further reinforcements can come to the rescue.
But help seemed impossible to get, especially with the withdrawal of much of the Navy units from the area, leaving the Philippenes to "wither on the vine" as General MacArthur had said. He accused the Navy for abandoning the Army, leaving it to fend for itself while it ran away for safety, and against an inferior race at that! But it seemed like no help will be forthcoming, but a strategic mistake on the Japanese suddenly seemed like a chance at redemption at saving the heroic boys trapped on Bataan! By moving the timetable of the invasion of the Dutch East Indies up, much of the pressure on Bataan subsided, and some small, but greatly over exaggerated (thanks to MacArthur's deep connections with the media) victories prompted the citizens of America to petition for a relief force to be sent to the Philippenes, and to "teach those Jap b******s a lesson".
The goverment was forced to do something, and so War Plan Orange, originally abandoned already, was dusted off and updated, and the path was set for the American fleet to sail to to its doom, right into the maw of the Japanese fleet, watching and waiting to pounce when the moment presented itself.