May 8th, 1942, the two carrier fleets found each other and airstrikes were launched. But the two Japanese carriers didn't have enough torpedo bombers left for concerted attacks on BOTH zig-zagging American carriers. "Lady Lex" drew the short straw and caught two torpedos and two bombs as a consequence. While still afloat, USS Lexington later had her heart ripped out by a devastating fuel explosion below decks during recovery operations. She had to be scuttled. Though dismissed as sunk by the Japanese, Yorktown was only damaged by dive bombers, but hasty repairs in Hawaii saw her participate unaccounted for in the Battle of Midway the following month. What if Fletcher hadn't unleashed the wildcats onto Takagi's wayward strike the previous afternoon? How might Midway have played out if Yorktown wasn't there...? Losses in men and machines on both sides were substantial. Takagi's fleet was also forced to withdraw. The Shokaku was seriously damaged by US divebombers and Zuikaku was left short of aircraft. Without the carriers, the Port Moresby invasion was "postponed" until after Allied naval opposition could be neutralised at Midway. Which didn't happen as planned. Neither carrier borrowed for the Port Moresby strike rejoined the fleet for Yamamoto's "decisive" confrontation at Midway. Making it already less likely to be as "decisive" as Yamamoto needed it to be. So the IJN's two carriers "won" the Battle of the Coral Sea on paper and yet arguably, from that moment, started to lose the war they'd started just five months before. Learning from shortcomings in the venerable Lady Lex's design, the United States prudently made the next few dozen or so aircraft carriers to roll down the slipways more resilient to such attacks... And of course they'd need that and more before it was all over. Thanks for viewing and comments. Rendered in Vue 8 Esprit. Assets USS Yorktown (Cornucopia3D/ Don Webster) USS Lexington (Renderosity/ Alicefromlake) BeyondVR "Val" and "Kates" bundled with WW2 carrier Akagi (Renderosity/RPublishing) BeyondVR F4F wildcat freebie (ShareCG and Renderosity?)