[Captain Walker]

This is an informative article, but Parshall's comment about it being the beginning of a Japanese campaign to hide or disguise bad news is a bit ironic.

For three months after the battle, the US's official description of the damage incurred to Yorktown was simply that the ship had suffered "heavy damage".

It was not until September 1942 that she was reported sunk in the battle.

[Jacquerie]

Not ironic at all.

Read Shattered Sword.

[Phlyer]

. . . the US's official description of the damage . . .

That was the official *public* description. The US Navy didn't lie to itself, as the Japanese Navy did. The Japanese government also lied to the Japanese people and claimed that Midway as a victory, etc.

In the absence of hard, verifiable data, the US Navy had a lot of wishful thinking about things like our torpedoes, which were a lot worse than we 'thought', and about Japanese torpedoes, which were a lot better than we thought. But we learned from the battles and got better, while the Japanese kept trying to recreate the Battle of Tsushima and refused to believe any changes in doctrine or tactics were required.