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Shortly after the Pearl Harbor Raid, the Japanese had to decide what to do first with the Kido Butai. Since the USN battleships were hit and the carriers had escaped, the USN still posed a serious threath to the Japanese Advances in the South West Pacific, especially with their Hit and Run raids. The British Eastern Fleet was more or less intact, dispite the loss of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, so still posed a theoretical threath in the West of the grown Japanese sphere of influence.

What would the IJN do first?

Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet of Yamamoto, thought it was urgent to remove the USN Pacific Fleet from the scene as a fighting force, before further plans could be made to push on in the South West Pacific. Therefor, the Kido Butai of Vice Admiral Nagumo would be needed in the Pacific, rather than in the Dutch East Indies or Indian Ocean., which happeded in the OTL. The Kido Butai was not needed in the West of the Japanese shere of influence, as was later concluded, since there was nearly no opposition. The taskforce waisted lots of fuel and time in the West, which would be serious for a Nation already on short supply of especially fuel.

What would have happened if the Japanese had listened to this gifted Naval Officer?

* reference: Fuchida, M., Okumiya, M.: "Midway the Japanese Story",
ISBN 0-304-36154-2
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