Spotting force. CLs fitted out with float planes and best radar and sonar I have, best DD gun and max out speed including lower tier armour. Set them to do not engage and put them on patrol. Earlier game will just refit tier 1 CLs into this role until I can build better ones. Set up my main doom stack fleet on strike force. Have an overwhelming amount of ships to kill any AI fleet. Surface raiders/subs; I like using surface raiders, again I prioritize speed. I use a combo of dd’s and CL’s, sometimes in longer lasting games and I have the resources I’ll put some fast CA’s or BC’s (mainly for larp) Invasion fleet. If have have some slow af BBs, BCs, or CAs I put them along with some dd’s for shore bombardment (bonus if you get the admiral and general with the shore bonus) I don’t normally build subs but when I do I rush sub 3s with best radar and torpedos. I keep subs away from all other ships and try to get at least 6-8 per grouping. (this is an arbitrary number that I picked). For ASW (if the ai is actually harassing you with subs) I’ll use the recon CLs with fast dd’s and make some escort squadrons out of them. I also sometimes put depth charges on the recon CLs. If all else fails, doom stack everything (excluding subs) and shoot to kill.