Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 092" video.

@99IronDuke My sense is adding Indomitable would make Force Z an even more attractive target. The Japanese had reportedly had enough time to move additional bombers to Saigon and train the crews specifically for attacking Force Z. Indomitable's air group at the time apparently included a mix of Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars, which would be effective defense against unescorted medium bombers. The battle location would be at the extreme end of range for either Zeros or Ki-43s based in Saigon, but Ryūjō was in the general area, it's air group attacking a US base on Mindanao on December 8. Ryūjō was equipped with obsolescent A5M fighters at that time. If Ryūjō was intended to coordinate a strike on Force Z with the IJN bomber groups in Saigon, the A5Ms may have been replaced with A6Ms, and the ship positioned to quickly divert from the Philippines to Malaya as soon as Force Z left Singapore. A dozen Zeros from Ryūjō would tie up the Indomitable's fighters, while Ryūjō Kates would add their punch to that of the land based bombers. The Brits could have lost 3 big ships that day.
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@GaldirEonai OK, nightmare scenario: the Army gets total responsibility for the Asian continent, China/Burma/whatever else is on that land mass, land and air assets. The Navy gets everything offshore, including land based bombers attacking offshore, like the Navy bomber groups that attacked Force Z, and island garrisons. The IJN had a land force, so expand that to handle all the offshore invasions and occupations. Unified command in each theater.
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