[Jones377]

I was finally able to starve them out by Feb 1944. I sent most of my USN carriers and battleships along with some escorts and all early marines to Ceylon/Brisbane. I initially conducted raids on Java and Singapore to keep their oil surplus under check and essentially fighting a war of attrition which grinded down their navy. Twice they sent a large cruiser formation against my carriers and battleships and got utterly destroyed.

Then I invaded Java, Singapore and Borneo in stages. The Essex and Independence carriers slowly reinforced my fleet in the west and by the time it was over I had managed to take up to Iwo Jima and Marianas. They had the Philippines, Formosa, Okinawa left.

Against a human opponent this strategy would never have worked. If the Japanese had massed all their carriers against me at Ceylon I would have been toast. As it was now, I even caught a lone unescorted carrier or two with a battleship fleet because they refused to retreat allowing me to close to main gun range.

Perhaps the AI needs a little tweaking in that regard? One carrier isn't enough to fend off several battleships as it's unable to cause any significant damage before it's caught under the guns. Better to retreat in that case.