After winning a victory, and as pursuing the Japanese ships became too dangerous near Wake, The American forces pulled back. Spruance pulled back to the east to refuel his destroyers and meet with the carrier "Saratoga", which was carrying replacement aircraft. The American carriers eventually returned to Pearl Harbor. Historian Samuel E. Morison wrote in 1949 that Spruance was criticized for not pursuing the retreating Japanese, allowing their fleet to escape. Clay Blair argued in 1975 that had Spruance followed Yamamoto, he would have been unable to launch his aircraft after nightfall, and his cruiser escorts would have been destroyed by Yamamoto's larger and more powerful ships, including the battleship , with 18-inch guns.