Why one American carrier could erase the Midway battle

What if only one US aircraft carrier had been able to reach Midway?

Midway probably would not occur in its historical form because one carrier was insufficient for the operation.

One carrier would be too weak for the historical ambush and might simply be sacrificed if committed. That shortage belongs to a wider counterfactual: heavier Pearl Harbor infrastructure damage could delay repairs, alter Coral Sea and Midway, and force British deployments in the Indian Ocean to compensate for a weaker US Pacific Fleet. The premise creates a strategic divergence rather than a smaller version of the same battle.