He considered leaving a battle group behind to guard the strait, and made tentative plans to do so, but he felt he would also have to leave one of his three carrier groups to provide air cover, weakening his chance to crush the remaining Japanese carrier forces.
Han overvejede at efterlade en slagstyrke for at bevogte strædet, og lavede foreløbige planer i den retning, men han mente, at han også måtte efterlade en af sine tre hangarskibsgrupper for at give luftstøtte, hvilket svækkede hans chancer for at knuse de resterende japanske hangarskibe.