Summary

Though the United States suffered a major loss of battleships at Pearl Harbor, war production offset those losses in an astonishingly short period. By summer 1943, the United States enjoyed an overwhelming superiority in quality and quantity of weapons. In the end the aircraft carriers, as the victory at Midway had demonstrated, and the ability to transport large quantities of men and material to the battle zone played major roles in American strategy and victory. After the bloody battles of Guadalcanal and Tarawa, the United States bypassed and isolated well-defended Japanese outposts, a strategy that was facilitated by its superiority in air and on the water.

U.S. vs. Japanese Naval Construction