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Even before it was crippled thought was the grand battle of battleships slugging it out would come much later in the war. Much influenced that thought mainly the battleship building holiday raising the existing battleship as too prized to lose early in the war. The General Board then shifted focus to renovating those battleships they had and building what they were allowed under the Washington Treaty mainly cruisers, submarines and aircraft carriers. These were to bring the fleet across the Pacific in and island hopping campaign and the erecting of mobile fleet bases so battleships could follow for that grand battle. Unfortunately lack of funding did not allow the Navy to come up to its treaty limits until FDR took office.

But nothing really changed with the crippling of the battle line. I think Nimitz could be given credit in that he lacked logistical resources due to the Europe first policy, had to somewhat manage King, and drove home early the pre-war intellectual thought the carrier would be the strategic weapon winning the Pacific (Battle of Coral Sea and Midway) and not the battleship. The grand battle(s) that both sides expected took place at Midway and Philippine Sea in which victory was measured in hulls and aviators lost but neither side acknowledged it as such still awaiting the battleship clash.