The carriers, air groups, and machinery behind the raids

Nominal aircraft capacity did not equal an immediately flyable strike group because some machines were stored or partly disassembled. Yorktown, Enterprise, and Lexington therefore could not simply launch every aircraft listed in their maximum capacity figures. The Yorktown class combined about 32.5 knots with long-range cruising and more efficient modern boilers. Lexington was slightly faster but had shorter economical endurance and required sixteen older boilers to generate her much greater power. Her turbo-electric drive nevertheless offered valuable machinery separation and redundancy, while the air groups brought Wildcats, Dauntlesses, and Devastators to the raids.