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
Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II of finding the main Japanese carrier force, they only located and sank the "Shōhō". On May 8, the opposing carrier forces finally found each other and exchanged strikes. The 69 aircraft from the two Japanese carriers succeeded in sinking carrier "Lexington" and damaging "Yorktown", in return the Americans damaged the "Shōkaku". Although "Zuikaku" was the left undamaged, aircraft losses to "Zūikakū" were heavy and the Japanese were unable to support a landing at Port Moresby. As a result, the MO Operation was cancelled. Although they managed to sink a carrier, the battle was a disaster for the IJN. Not only