There is a very good reason why it is called a Carrier Battle Group. Without the Carriers the other ships are extremely vulnerable to air attack from carrier based planes while the enemy Carriers are not within range of their guns. The other fighting ships in the group are baiscally there to protect the Carriers and to provide long range gun fire for landing forces.
At Pearl Harbor the Japanese had no idea where our Carriers were or when they might show up. All the Japanese planes were outfitted with bombs and torpedoes and would have been of no use to defend their fleet from air attack. About the last thing a Carrier Captain wants to do is set up to retrieve planes while under attack.
Same was true at Midway. Once the Japanese Carriers were taken out the rest of their fleet was too vulnerable to attempt landing troops. A landing fleet is an easy target...especially with no air support from Carrier based planes.
Our own Navy bugged out on the Marines at Guadalcanal because Nimitz felt that parking the entire landing fleet off the island was too dangerous. Ships sitting dead in the water while off loading troops and supplies are sitting ducks.
Both the USA and the Japanese were smart enough to know early on that the one with the most ships would win the war in the Pacific...and protecting those ships was a major concern for both sides.
