On 26 October 1942, in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, her aircraft again damaged the repaired "Enterprise", and crippled ("Hornet" was abandoned after a failed scuttling attempt and later sunk by Japanese destroyers). However, "Shōkaku" and "Zuihō" were both severely damaged by American air attacks, and "Zuikaku" had to recover their surviving aircraft in addition to her own. Of the 110 aircraft launched by the three Japanese carriers, only 67 returned to "Zuikaku". She then returned to the home islands via Truk for training and aircraft ferrying duties.