The USN used battleships in limited roles because they were extant, but could have done completely without them with the only effect that the Guadalcanal campaign would’ve lasted longer without Washington and South Dakota. In hindsight, of course, but Taranto should’ve been a big red flag. Pearl Harbor and especially Prince of Wales/ Repulse were late emphasis on what the USN should’ve known from the Fleet Problems.
Agreed, but I’d go further. Without Lee’s battleships, Henderson would have suffered another pounding by Kirishima, but the Japanese supply convoy had already been decimated. The Japanese effort to hold Guadalcanal was already doomed.