 One of the most significant effects of the Coral Sea battle was the loss of and to Yamamoto for his planned battle in the air with the U.S. carriers at Midway ("Shōhō" was to have been employed at Midway in a tactical role supporting the Japanese invasion ground forces).The Japanese believed that they sank two carriers in the Coral Sea, but this still left at least two more U.S. Navy carriers, "Enterprise" and "Hornet", which could help defend Midway.The aircraft complement of the U.S. carriers was larger than that of their Japanese counterparts, which, when combined with the land-based aircraft at Midway, meant that the Combined Fleet no longer enjoyed a significant numerical aircraft superiority over the U.S. Navy for the impending battle.