Carriers: If KB remains on station one more day, my carriers will have the angle. Whether John remains in position, I just don't know. I still think 50/50.
If his carriers do begin to retire, it's going to be a close thing. If he catches wind of my carriers, he'll probably be able to avoid a clash, if he wishes to. If he doesn't catch wind, my carriers may be able to strike.
And no matter what, the odds of my carriers hitting his AO TF is increasing. If his AOs don't retire tomorrow, I think such a clash becomes likely.
Is all this worth it? Is what I've already expended (TKs and DEs) worth it?
I'm not sure it is, but I wanted to develop the possibilities as best I could.
Had John's sent a massive CV TF with 350 aircraft, I would've long since evacuated Pago Pago. I wouldn't have lost a single ship. But the chance for a clash out here, where he's far from home, possibly low on ammo, possibly with wearied pilots or depleted squadrons, while my guys were fresh and had much more info (detection), seemed like a scenario worth exploring fully.
I haven't lost anything I'll miss in the least. But if this devolves, John will be crowing about a success that was nothing more than a ridiculous gamble. I'll have fed the monster in him - the inveterate raider - for better or worse, in games yet to come. So potential future opponents of John's may still have the pleasure of dealing with his raiding.
