Taffy 3 really took a beating, but they put up such a fight that it buffaloed the Japanese, and they beat a retreat. They weren’t ready to lose the Yamamoto, and probably thought more counterattacking planes were on the way. Our magnificent men saved the US invasion.
The Japanese policy after they started the war against the US was, since there’s not enough fuel supply to keep the entire fleet running, so the loss of ships wasn’t as important. And when they did make a big push, they brought everything, fully fueled or not.
According to my FIL, Henry Kiser was summoned to the DOD several days after Pearl Harbor. He left the same day with a purchase order for 50 aircraft carriers to be made by modifying Kiser Liberty ships already being constructed. He was to produce the first one in 60 days. He was forgiven after it took 90 days.
My FIL’s day job was an aircraft mechanic on the hangar deck. One day shortly after disembarking from Pearl Harbor, he noticed a number of navy ‘brass’ gathering around the hangar deck with measuring tapes. After several hours, they made a door sized mark on one of the hangar walls. An acetylene torch was brought in to cut along the lines. After a bit, a door sized panel was removed. Inside was a fully equipped machine shop, with mills, lathes, and associated equipment. It was assumed that in the haste to build the ship, some workers propped a steel panel along the wall. The next crew came along and welded it in place.