[Calif Conservative]

There were four at the actual battle of Midway, the 4 that that USA killed.

So it is correct to say there were 4 Japanese carriers in the active battle zone

Zuiho — and the main invasion force — never got close enough to the actual kill zone where the combat took place

the US admirals withdrew back towards Pearl Harbor to avoid a night engagement on June 4th

The Japanese advanced with the main fleet briefly during the night — hoping to lure the US carriers —

but IJN realized their battleships and any carrier with the main invasion fleet would be vulnerable to both the US carriers as well as the attack aircraft on the atoll — so they slunk back to Japan at daylight on June 5

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Many years ago, I used to play a computer game called Midway by Avalon Hill company. It was a mostly real time mostly text game. In that game, the Zuiho and the main invasion force were there. On occasion, the scout planes would locate it.

My goal was to sink the main four and then go for the ultimate goal of sinking the Zuiho with either US task force. I only got her once.