The Japanese get to Pearl Harbor and they think,
“Crap! The carriers aren’t here! Let’s shoot up some stuff since we’re here and head back to our carriers.”
Then what?
They have to consider American submarines, but they always had to consider American submarines.
I can see a tactical move to confuse the submarines, but where did they go?
Early in the War both sides still thought that the Battleships were the deadliest danger to their plans. The Japanese mainly targeted the battleships at Pearl and left without a second strike against the oil storage facilities.
The Japanese then headed west and proceeded to conquer every target they had planned. US Subs weren’t deployed. In fact the US Navy was unprepared and dominated by a culture that assumed that the Japanese could be easily defeated. You see they thought the Japanese had poor eyesight and balance and believed their planes were made of bamboo and rice paper. Even if the US Subs had been around the torpedoes were terrible. Most wouldn’t explode, even with contact fuses.
I think a bigger mistake for the Japanese at Pearl was not blowing up the oil tanks.
I always think of HG Wells, killing the invaders in War of the Worlds with bacteria and viruses...Sometimes you don’t need to take out the tank. You just need to stop it from moving. Hence, take out the ball bearings.
The attack and Pearl should have diverted one wing to take out the oil tanks. Having to drive back to California for a while would have made Midway a more difficult effort.
I know the third wave was supposed to do that; but I could never understand why it wasn’t a priority during the first two waves.