Carrier battle group at the Battle of Midway. In contrast, the United States Navy deployed its large carriers in separate formations, with each carrier assigned its own cruiser and destroyer escorts. These single-carrier formations would often be paired or grouped together for certain assignments, most notably the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. By 1943, however, large numbers of fleet and light carriers became available, which required larger formations of three or four carriers. These groups eventually formed the Fast Carrier Task Force, which became the primary battle unit of the U.S. Fifth and Third Fleets. With the construction of the large
Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō with bombs to little effect. The Americans claimed to have shot down 19 aircraft, but only three Zeros and three B5Ns were lost, although another B5N was forced to crash-land. Only three Wildcats were shot down in turn. Around 14:40, the Detached Force was spotted again by several search aircraft from the carrier , although the Japanese ships did not immediately spot the Americans. They launched three Zeros as CAP at 14:55, shortly before two of the searching Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers near-missed "Ryūjō" astern with four bombs three minutes later. Two more Zeros reinforced the CAP shortly after