1) I was absolutely wrong here. After re-reading the manual, it became clear that I needed to make the bases operational to cut the line of communication. Played again last evening and it worked fine. Suggestion: Make this clearer in the pop-up help. It is stated in the manual, but the wording is a bit murky.
2) Also something I missed, but Luzon is still broken.
3) I suspected as much and assumed that this was the logic behind this. (I thought dry-dock could also be an explanation). However, there should be a built-in limit to how many hits a ship can take and still be repairable. In my example above, the Prince of Wales took over 100 hits after being down to the minimum hits. I would suggest re-looking at this formula as a 'saving throw', and/ or put a limit on how many hits it can take after reaching the minimum (like a second invisible strength bar) to avoid impossible situations. LOL - I mean after 100 hits, the ship would have disintigrated!

One other thought: A ship that is down to the minimum like that should not stop or negatively affect an otherwise successful invasion. Not like its a stationary battery when its that messed up.
6) The oil supply was somewhat low at first, but was at +2, so it went up quite quickly. It also seemed like the AI didn't go after Java, which I quickly realized and stopped trying to defend, which allowed me to concentrate even more power for the Singapore battles.
All this said, this is a great game. Congratulations! truly outstanding work.