Editing Battle of the Coral Sea (section)

====Recovery, reassessment and retreat====
The strike forces, with many damaged aircraft, reached and landed on their respective carriers between 12:50 and 14:30. In spite of damage, ''Yorktown'' and ''Lexington'' were able to recover aircraft from their returning air groups. During recovery operations, for various reasons the U.S. lost an additional five SBDs, two TBDs, and a Wildcat, and the Japanese lost two Zeros, five dive bombers, and one torpedo plane. Forty-six of the original sixty-nine aircraft from the Japanese strike force returned from the mission and landed on ''Zuikaku''. Of these, three more Zeros, four dive bombers and five torpedo planes were judged damaged beyond repair and were immediately jettisoned into the sea.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|pp=270–278}}; {{harvnb|Cressman|2000|pp=115–117}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|pp=144–147}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=193–195}}. A VF-2 Wildcat piloted by Howard F. Clark was unable to find TF17 and disappeared without a trace. A TBD piloted by [[Leonard W. Thornhill]] ditched {{convert|20|nmi|mi km|abbr=on}} from TF17; he and his rear gunner, seen entering their life raft, were not recovered, even though Fletcher sent the destroyer ''Dewey'' to look for them. William B. Ault, SBD pilot and commander of ''Lexington''{{'}}s air group, and another ''Lexington'' SBD piloted by John D. Wingfield from VS-2, were unable to find TF17 and disappeared. Ault's last transmission was, "From CLAG. OK, so long people. We got a 1000 pound hit on the flat top." (Lundstrom, p. 277). Another SBD piloted by Harry Wood ditched on Rossel Island and he and his rear gunner were later rescued. One ''Shōkaku'' Zero, piloted by Yukuo Hanzawa, successfully crash landed on ''Shōkaku'' ({{harvnb|Hata|Izawa|1975|pp=42–43}}). Nineteen ''Lexington'' aircraft were recovered by ''Yorktown'' ({{harvnb|Millot|1974|p=100}}). Parshall (p. 417) states that many of the jettisoned Japanese aircraft were not necessarily unserviceable, but were jettisoned to make way for less damaged aircraft because of a lack of sufficient deck-handling speed and skill by ''Zuikaku''{{'}}s crew.</ref>

As TF&nbsp;17 recovered its aircraft, Fletcher assessed the situation. The returning aviators reported they heavily damaged one carrier, but that another had escaped damage. Fletcher noted that both his carriers were hurt and that his air groups had suffered high fighter losses. Fuel was also a concern due to the loss of ''Neosho''. At 14:22, Fitch notified Fletcher that he had reports of two undamaged Japanese carriers and that this was supported by radio intercepts. Believing that he faced overwhelming Japanese carrier superiority, Fletcher elected to withdraw TF&nbsp;17 from the battle. Fletcher radioed MacArthur the approximate position of the Japanese carriers and suggested that he attack with his land-based bombers.<ref>{{harvnb|ONI|1943|p=39}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|pp=274–277}}; {{harvnb|Cressman|2000|p=116}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|p=133}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=193–196}}; {{harvnb|Spector|1985|p=162}}. Fletcher initially proposed sending the damaged ''Lexington'' to port for repairs and transferring that ship's aircraft to ''Yorktown'' to continue the battle, but Fitch's 14:22 message changed his mind. Separate U.S. aircraft, both carrier and land-based, had apparently sighted ''Zuikaku'' twice but were unaware that this was the same carrier (Hoyt, p. 133).</ref>

Around 14:30, Hara informed Takagi that only 24 Zeros, 8 dive bombers, and 4 torpedo planes from the carriers were currently operational. Takagi was worried about his ships' fuel levels; his cruisers were at 50% and some of his destroyers were as low as 20%. At 15:00, Takagi notified Inoue his fliers had sunk two U.S. carriers – ''Yorktown'' and a "{{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|2}}-class" – but heavy losses in aircraft meant he could not continue to provide air cover for the invasion. Inoue, whose reconnaissance aircraft sighted Crace's ships earlier that day, recalled the invasion convoy to Rabaul, postponed ''MO'' to 3 July, and ordered his forces to assemble northeast of the Solomons to begin the ''RY'' operation. ''Zuikaku'' and her escorts turned towards Rabaul while ''Shōkaku'' headed for Japan.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|p=278}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|pp=132–133}}; {{harvnb|Millot|1974|p=106}}; {{harvnb|Dull|1978|p=134}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=195–196}}; {{harvnb|D'Albas|1965|p=108}}.</ref>

[[File:USS Lexington brennt.jpg|thumb|''Lexington'', burning and abandoned]]

Aboard ''Lexington'', damage control parties put out the fires and restored her to operational condition, but at 12:47, sparks from unattended electric motors ignited gasoline fumes near the ship's central control station. The resulting explosion killed 25 men and started a large fire. Around 14:42, another large explosion occurred, starting a second severe fire. A third explosion occurred at 15:25 and at 15:38 the ship's crew reported the fires as uncontrollable. ''Lexington''{{'}}s crew began abandoning ship at 17:07. After the carrier's survivors were rescued, including Admiral Fitch and the ship's captain, [[Frederick C. Sherman]], at 19:15 the destroyer {{USS|Phelps|DD-360|2}} fired five torpedoes into the burning ship, which sank in 2,400&nbsp;[[fathoms]] at 19:52 ({{coord|15|15|S|155|35|E}}). Two hundred and sixteen of the carrier's 2,951-man crew went down with the ship, along with 36 aircraft. ''Phelps'' and the other assisting warships left immediately to rejoin ''Yorktown'' and her escorts, which departed at 16:01, and TF&nbsp;17 retired to the southwest. Later that evening, MacArthur informed Fletcher that eight of his B-17s had attacked the invasion convoy and that it was retiring to the northwest.<ref>{{harvnb|Lundstrom|2005b|pp=273–282}}; {{harvnb|Cressman|2000|p=117}}; {{harvnb|Hoehling|1971|pp=121–197}}; {{harvnb|Hoyt|2003|pp=134–150, 153–168}}; {{harvnb|Millot|1974|pp=99–103}}; {{harvnb|Dull|1978|p=134}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|pp=193, 196–199}}; {{harvnb|Morison|1949|pp=57–60}}; {{harvnb|Crave|Cate|1947|pp=449–450}}; {{harvnb|Gillison|1962|p=519}}. As the fires raged on ''Lexington'', several of her aircrews requested to fly their aircraft to ''Yorktown'', but Sherman refused (Lundstrom 2006, p. 560). The names of those killed from ''Lexington''{{'}}s crew, including from the air squadrons, are recorded in {{harvnb|Hoehling|1971|pp=201–205}}. One of those killed was [[Howard R. Healy]]. Hoyt, Millot, and Morison give the coordinates of the sinking as {{coord|15|12|S|155|27|E}}. Assisting ''Lexington'' during her travails were ''Minneapolis'', ''New Orleans'', ''Phelps'', ''Morris'', ''Hammann'', and ''Anderson''. ''Portland'', ''Morris'', and ''Phelps'' were the last to leave ''Lexington''{{'}}s final location (Lundstrom 2006, pp. 197, 204). Gillison (p. 519) states that eight B-26 bombers from [[Townsville]] sortied to attack Inoue's forces but were unable to locate the Japanese ships.</ref>

That evening, Crace detached ''Hobart'', which was critically low on fuel, and the destroyer {{USS|Walke|DD-416|2}}, which was having engine trouble, to proceed to Townsville. Crace overheard radio reports saying the enemy invasion convoy had turned back, but, unaware Fletcher had withdrawn, he remained on patrol with the rest of TG&nbsp;17.3 in the Coral Sea in case the Japanese invasion force resumed its advance towards Port Moresby.<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1968|pp=52–53}}; {{harvnb|Pelvin|2017}}; {{harvnb|Lundstrom|2006|p=198}}.</ref>