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In our TL, as I am sure most of you know, Admiral Nagumo launched only a token recon force from his carriers to confirm the absence of US warships. They did not expect to find any enemy ships, and so they didn't. However, the Japanese did launch recon planes, so it is only a matter of chance that they did not discover the American carriers. So, let's say that Nagumo launches a few more recon planes, or launches them closer to Midway, or what have you. One of the planes manages to spot the American carriers, and reports this back to the fleet. How does Admiral Nagumo react to this bit of unexpected news?

Now neither side has the advantage of surprise. Presumably, both sides will now gear up for an anti-carrier air strike. What happens next? What will the four Japanese carriers do? What of the Japanese surface fleet? How does the battle change?

(N.B. For this question, I am intersted only in this one battle. Please do not bother discussing how the result of this battle will affect the rest of the war in the Pacific, as it is outside the scope of this discussion. Thanks)
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