It's my career. Telecommuncation engineer.
I would like to emphasis the word encoding
Communication Encoding.
During WW2, the communcation between each units of military at that time use radio signals. These signals can be captured, tapped and listen. Therefore, Germany invented a box called by the Victor side "Engima" Box. What these boxes do is to "encode" or in other words "change the signal" so that when the signal is tapped, the other side could not listen. What happened was a Germany subs was captured during WW2. This event, 1 Enigma box is captured. The next is to understand clearly how they encode-decode. It was with a math genius Von Numann and it was this very process of decoding Engima box that the world 1st computer was invented using vacuum tubes. Finally Enigma box was decoded. Allied force was able to know in advance Germany military movement, which led to destruction of the later. The engima box was exported to Japan and use as decoding as well. Therefore, US military knew in advance all Japanese army movement. Therefore, they free for all the Yamoto ship and her group.
100% I agree with you. The concept of decryption is far more important than the size of a naval ship's guns or decoy(s) because it is this factor that can be used to predict the location of the enemy's fleet movement(s).
Prior to the Allied Force breaking the Japanese naval code, the Imperial Japanese Navy commanded the seas , destroying allied naval shipping and coastal defenses with impunity. Case scenario the Battle of Java Sea, the Battle of Bandung Straits, the Battle of Manila Harbor, the Battle of Singapore. The Imperial Japanese Navy [Nihon Kaigun] was able to even destroy much larger allied cruisers , battleships by our pin point accuracy and coordination. This was witnessed in Pearl Harbor. This was also witnessed in the early phase of Battle of Midway.
The achilles heel for us was that the United States utilized the decryptor box, and thus were reading Japanese naval command instructions. This way they were able to send the Pacific Fleet to engage us in Midway, we had not planned they would intercede us there. The same concept was used to wrec havoc on our merchant fleet, throughout the duration of the war. Now, if we ask ourselves, what if the US did not break the naval code? It can be assumed that most of the naval battles that the united states defeated us in (which used the naval code to find our locations), would never have happened. In fact, the duration of the war would have been longer, the outcome would not have been what it was.
The United States Navy triumphed over the Imperial Japanese Navy because of a multifaceted aspect:
1) United States broke our code early in the war
2) United States protected their carrier assets , and utilized it aggressively
3) United States coordinated in strike groups, making sure to utilize pincer movements , reduced attrition damage against larger Nihon Kaigun Rengo Kantai (Combined Fleet)
4) United States had UNLIMITED NATURAL RESOURCES , still does
6) United States coordinated the Naval and Air and Army effectively. Compared to Imperial Army and Imperial Navy's almost competitive nature with each other
Fleet size is never the single determining factor of the success of a naval battle. It all depends on communication, interoperability of the military departments, and strategic maneuverability of key forces. As seen in the Battle of Midway, Battle of Java Sea, Battle of Tsushima Straits, Battle of Solomon Islands.