I know that, of course. What I’m saying is HAD they used their resources in that manner, they would have won the battle with many fewer casualties. In your opinion, HAD they used their assets in that manner, what do you think would have happened? The kamikaze manned cruise missile revealed the vulnerability of aircraft carriers during WWII. An equal, non depleted enemy (as Japan was in 1942) using kamikaze tactics, would have prevailed over the U.S. carriers.
It’s possible that they might have won the battle. We had fewer carriers than they had during that battle so they could have concentrated more aircraft on fewer targets. As I remember, they couldn’t find our carriers until later in the battle.
We learned how to best protect the carriers by picket lines of destroyers and destroyer escorts and anti-submarine tactics. That was standard operating procedure and was refined as the war went on.
A Japanese victory at Midway would have been a terrible defeat. But as Admiral Yamamoto told the Imperial Japanese Staff, he could hold the Americans off for a year or maybe two, but after that, the war would be lost.
So an American defeat at Midway would only have prolonged the inevitable.
Regards-