[henkster]

Battle of the Coral Sea, the first of the great carrier duels fought in the next six months. The battle wound up costing the Japanese a lot more than it appears. Shokaku was badly hurt, almost capsizing on her long trip back to Japan for repairs. She is scratched for Operation MI set for next month. Zuikaku avoided injury, but her air group has been slaughtered. Japanese doctrine had air groups wedded to their carriers, so they scratched Zuikaku from Operation MI too. Of course, had they really wanted to put Zuikaku with the other four carriers, they could have cobbled together an air group. But they didn’t. Contrast this with the US Navy’s crash effort to get Yorktown repaired and out to sea to fight at Midway.

So the real victory of Coral Sea was a month in its realization; with the scratching of Carrier Division 5, the Japanese lost their carrier superiority over the United States Navy for the battle of Midway.

[Cheburashka]

Of course, had they really wanted to put Zuikaku with the other four carriers, they could have cobbled together an air group. But they didn’t.

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Bringing everything you can to the battle is important. The Akagi will be sunk at Midway by one bomb. How many hits on the Hornet and Enterprise might a cobbled-together air complement on the Zuikaku have made? Perhaps enough to turn an American victory into a near-draw, with 4 Japanese carriers lost vs 3 American?

It might also be noted that the Shokaku had not yet even entered dry dock for repairs when the Battle of Midway was fought. “What's the hurry, it's not like there's a war on or anything.”

IJN Shokaku: Tabular Record of Movement:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/shokaku.htm

[PzLdr]

Carrier Division 5, while the newest in the Kido Butai, was also its strongest. They alone had the air assets that equaled or surpassed American carriers of the time in number. They were also the only Japanese carriers afloat that equalled ours in tonnage, and they were capable of operating at higher speeds than Carrier Division 1[AKAGI and the even slower KAGA].

And the failure of Japan to graduate Naval aircrews in adequate numbers to replace those lost will be a problem they never address successfully [along with failing to rotate pilots for instructor duties, much like their German Allies], and one which will lead from Midway to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in the blink of an eye.