Naval Battles Of WW2 & Incidents
One piece of evidence pointing to the importance of US battleship bombardments vs a need of carriers to beat the Japanese in the Pacific Island hopping campaign is the fact that the actual use of the battleship increased in each successive island invasion.
The Carrier’s primary task was to eliminate enemy air opposition and fly combat air patrol over the fleet. They performed an excellent service in this supporting role of the US bombardment. The Japanese were just incredibly outmanned at every turn.
At Iwo Jima (below), the Japanese were outnumbered nearly 6 to 1. Even at Guadalcanal, early in the war the US had a 2 to 1 advantage.
The victory in WWII in the Pacific was more than just the emergence of the carrier over the battleship, it was an eventual domination by a much larger entity with infinitely more supplies and reserves.
In the same manner in which the North overwhelmed the South in the US Civil War, the US’ endless resources, supplies and replacements were just too much for the Empire of Japan to keep up with.
Naval Battles Of WW2 & Incidents
