Actually, they might have. The Stars and Stripes and British ensign flew from nearly a thousand destroyers and destroyer escorts in August, and American yards were launching more every week. Stationed within sight of each other, they and the capital warships, supplemented by thousands of planes, could have sealed off the home islands. But it's hard to understand how that would have saved more lives or otherwise been more humane. On the contrary, it's almost certain the majority of Japanese would have voluntarily or compulsorily — in either case, agonizingly — persisted in rejecting surrender
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