Quote:but generally you only have the ships you started the war with.
True enough for the Japanese. However, we had begun the R & D for Essex class carriers and Iowa class battleships by 1939. When war broke out, instead of 10 ships we ordered 30.
The Japanese built one carrier from the keel up..the Taiho, and even that was started before the war began. Industrially, the Japanese were not match. Oddly, they knew that and attacked Pearl Harbor anyway. Interesting psychology there.
