No Pearl Harbour:US fleet comes to the Japanese & loses big

WI all the attacks occur as in OTL, except the Japanese don't attack Pearl Harbour? What would be the US strategy? To impetuously immediately send out the entire fleet "to liberate the Philipines"? How far would the Americans be prepared to sail, without fearing a trap, or going beyond their range?

With the Japanese on the lookout & on the defence, with the US at the limit of their range, might the entire US fleet be lost in an all out battle, as in 1941-42 radars were primitive, the US gunnery was poor, they had no night fighting training, no proximity-fused shells, no Oerlikons, no Bofors, Wildcat fighters outclassed by the Zero, no Iowa class battleships, carrier tactcics weren't refined, no experience of long range fuel trains, Yankee over-confidence etc etc. Or could the battle still go either way?

Or would they manage to control themselves & hold-off and marshall their resources until early 1943, and maybe still get whipped?

And with no "Day of Infamy" there will be less outrage & less-motivated US sailors & soldiers. And maybe even less urgency to put all the massive resources into the A Bomb, resulting in it being delayed by 1-2 years.

No matter how much people talk about Plan Orange, its appears more likely that by the late 1930s the Navy has abandoned it, particularly in light of the outbreak of the European War. The 'through ticket' plan to the Philippines had been abandoned, much to the Army's dismay.

However, in a slugfest between the Combined Fleet and the US Battleline I suspect the US will be able to hold its own, despite the drawbacks mentioned. I doubt the Pacific Fleet will galavant off without being reinforced by some ships of the Atlantic Fleet.

David S Poepoe said:

No matter how much people talk about Plan Orange, its appears more likely that by the late 1930s the Navy has abandoned it, particularly in light of the outbreak of the European War. The 'through ticket' plan to the Philippines had been abandoned, much to the Army's dismay.

However, in a slugfest between the Combined Fleet and the US Battleline I suspect the US will be able to hold its own, despite the drawbacks mentioned. I doubt the Pacific Fleet will galavant off without being reinforced by some ships of the Atlantic Fleet.

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I agree, but if one accepts Dunash's original proposition - which is not completely implausible - it would be reasonable to presume the USA would be much more likely to accept some type of negotiated settlement to the Pacific War in order to focus on Hitler (perhaps a "voluntary" cession of the Phillipines, Guam and Wake in a quasi-independent state under Japanese control?). This could set up some interesting WI's regarding survival of the Japanese Empire into the postwar period and a second Pacific War ("Nippon Supreme: Settling Accounts" might be Turtledov's name in his alternate alternate history magnum opus).