re: #238 Targetpractice

Hell, the fact that Yorktown was not only repaired well enough to limp back home after the Battle of the Coral Sea, but put back to see in only 72 hours was a damned miracle. The reason that the Japanese believed they’d sunk her the first time? They were convinced that if their own sailors could not have saved a ship that badly damaged, there was no way the Americans could have done it and got her back to sea so quickly. When their pilots reported seeing her during Midway, their commanders were sure that it had to be either a totally unknown ship or that their pilots were mistaken.

And indeed, the repairs performed during the Battle of Midway were so effective that the Japanese hit her twice, believing they had sunk her during the first engagement, and the second strike believed they were hitting the Enterprise.