Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "Inter-war ship designs - 5 Bad Ideas" video.

  1.  @bkjeong4302  I would propose that, if the Yamatos had never been laid down, in favor of more Shokakus, they would have four additional carriers, as four Yamatos were laid down. Two additional carriers would probably commission in 41. None of the additional Essex class carriers would be available significantly earlier than 43, because the design, which exceeded Second London limits, did not exist earlier. Things would have gotten very dicy off Guadalcanal in November of 42, as there would have been no battleships to reenforce the shattered flotilla that had met the Japanese the first night. Without building the Yamatos, the IJN could have opted for a more aggressive rebuild of the Nagatos, which were significantly faster than the USN standards to begin with. Without modern US battleships, there would have been no controversy about Halsey failing to meet the "center force". With more dedicated carriers, the Ises would not have been converted, so they would have been available for the center force in place of the unbuilt Yamatos. With no battleships to pound Kirishima into scrap at Guadalcanal, she could have joined her two sisters in the center force, along with Nagato and the two Ises (one of them would have been sunk in place of Musashi) Lots of moving parts in this scenario.
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  2.  @bkjeong4302  actually, I don't think the US would gain 10 Essexes, due to the late start, due to design availability. By my count, the USN could gain 8, by replacing all battleships: (2) built in Philly, (2) in Brooklyn, and 1 each at News, Fore River, Norfolk, and NY Shipbuilding. Meanwhile, starting the war with two more large carriers, potentially, the IJN could have brought more force to Coral Sea, and finished off Yorktown. With only two carriers at Midway, and Hornet's air group totally ineffective, it falls to Enterprise's two squadrons of SBDs to do fatal damage to the IJN carriers. One, or more, IJN carriers might have been able to limp home for repair. Starting the war with two additional carriers, the IJN might have brought more force to Santa Cruz, and finished off Enterprise. The next question is how the USN brings the Essexes into the theater. Do they bring them in one at a time, as they work up, so the first ones are always outnumbered and could be sunk by overwhelming IJN force? Or, do they hold the Essexes in the US or at Pearl, until they can form up a 4 carrier battlegroup that can defend itself?
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