Carrier mobility against island airfields

How would additional small flight decks change early Pacific raids and the Battle of the Coral Sea?

Carriers could choose when to strike a fixed airfield, but one deck often lacked enough aircraft to suppress a resilient base; extra decks might help Lexington, although both sides would probably have more carriers.

A carrier knows where an island airfield is, while the airfield must first locate the carrier, giving the ship an initiative advantage. One contemporary carrier air group might still be too small to suppress a base whose aircraft can operate from rough strips. Early raids against seaplane bases complicate the comparison because those targets are different from fixed airfields. At Coral Sea, extra flight decks could improve Lexington's prospects, but the counterfactual increases Japanese strength as well as American strength. The comparison separates mobility and surprise from the aircraft numbers required to keep a land base down.