U.S. Navy Surface Battle Doctrine and Victory in the Pacific

The basic strategic problems confronting the U.S. Navy during the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s were how to move a large fleet across the Pacific, absorb or avoid Japanese attritional attacks, seize forward bases for further oper- ations, and retain sufficient fighting strength to defeat Japan’s Combined Fleet. Japanese and American policies in Asia were in conflict, and war was a possible result; the U.S. Navy planned to win by destroying Japan’s navy, imposing a blockade, and forcing Japan’s surrender