 Beginning on 7 May, the carrier forces from the two sides engaged in airstrikes over two consecutive days.On the first day, both forces mistakenly believed they were attacking their opponent's fleet carriers, but were actually attacking other units, with the U.S. sinking the Japanese light carrier while the Japanese sank a U.S. destroyer and heavily damaged a fleet oiler (which was later scuttled).The next day, the fleet carriers found and engaged each other, with the Japanese fleet carrier damaged, the U.S. fleet carrier critically damaged (and later scuttled), and "Yorktown" damaged.