Comments by "Patrick Donnolley" (@ph89787) on "Battle of the Komandorski Islands - Forced to run, yet still they won" video.

The Aleutian Campaign could've been a lot bigger as a couple of months later. The IJN almost sent the combined fleet north to deal with the liberation of Attu. Which would include not only Musashi, Kongo and Haruna. But also Shokaku, Zuikaku, Jun'yo, Hiyo and Zuiho. Had such a thing happened, Nimitz would've been forced to call back several heavy units from the South Pacific. Including Saratoga and "Robin", but also sending the battered Enterprise and the new and recently commissioned Essex
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@kostakatsoulis2922 That would've been fun as North Carolina, Washington, Indiana, and Massachusetts were in the Pacific (South Dakota and Alabama were with the British Home Fleet). But the big wildcard would be the weather. In addition to the cold and fog. The waters around the archipelago are rough. The Nevada, Idaho and Pennsylvania had to raise their guns to keep them above the waves. Which also, would have made carrier ops for both sides very interesting.
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@bkjeong4302 Just Musashi, Kongo and Haruna.
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8:16 after coming out of repairs. Caused by a kamikaze dauntless at Guadalcanal courtesy of VB-10 from USS Enterprise.
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@drakron As mentioned by his Drachness and mentioned in multiple sources from the period and afterwards. The US Military would rather leave the Aleutians alone and let the Japanese Garrison die of frostbite (or the White Walkers). However, due to it technically being a US Territory, that strategy didn't sit well with the civilian population or politicians. So Nimitz wouldn't send his first-rate fleet units north for that campaign alone. Now, if the IJN decided to sortie to Combined Fleet. Then, the argument is how quickly appropriate units can be assembled. Nimitz would see it as an opportunity to wipe out a good chunk of the IJN's battle line and carriers before the Central Pacific Drive later that year. The IJN, by 1943, were starting to see the Aleutians as a backwater front and were only holding on as a matter of pride. I think it's the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast episode on Attu or the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Seth Peridan or Jon Parshall said that there was a fear within the IJN that there was a risk of this theatre turning into another Guadalcanal. A massive slugfest with lives lost and ships sunk with little to gain from. So, the attempted sortie by the Combined Fleet was more done out of a belated attempt to relieve the Garrison stationed there. But with the loss of Attu and no major US Ships or forces in that part of the world (not even the Grey Ghost). There was nothing to be gain outside of pride, spite or Nimitz does send something worth the time.
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@Vito_Tuxedo “to what end?” That was a question the IJN General Staff were wondering themselves. As they only began assembling the combined fleet in Tokyo well after they found out that the U.S. was sending forces to retake Attu and Kiska. By the time the Combined Fleet was ready to go. Attu was liberated and the Garrison was lost. But I suppose they could’ve send the Combined Fleet up there anyway. If for pure spite. If the Japanese cant have the Aleutians. No one will. That or knowing that the U.S. carrier forces are at their weakest could lure them into an area they can barely launch their aircraft and try to wipe them out similar to what Scharnhorst and Gneisenau did to Glorious but on a mass scale.
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@bkjeong4302 yeah Yamato was at Kure under overhaul for the upteenth time.
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