or wait to prepare a proper attack. After quick deliberation, he opted for a delayed but better-prepared attack on the American task force after recovering his Midway strike and properly arming aircraft. However, beginning at 10.22am, American carrier dive-bombers surprised and successfully attacked three of the Japanese carriers. With their hangar decks full of fueled and armed aircraft, plus discarded bombs and torpedoes, all three carriers were turned into blazing wrecks. Only a single carrier, the Hiryū, remained operational and she launched an immediate counterattack. Both of her attacks damaged the Yorktown and put the carrier out of action. The Yorktown along with the destroyer were later sunk by the Japanese submarine . Later in the afternoon, aircraft from the two remaining American carriers found and destroyed Hiryū. With the striking power of the Kido Butai having been destroyed, Japan's offensive power was blunted. Subsequently, on the early morning of June 5, the Japanese cancelled the Midway operation and the strategic initiative in the Pacific was in the balance. Impact of Midway Although the Japanese lost four fleet carriers and the worst consequences of Midway being the loss of experienced aircraft maintenance personnel, Mark Peattie states that the engagement was "not the battle that doomed Japan". The outcome did not lead to the end of the highly trained carrier aircrews or radically degrade the fighting capabilities of Japanese naval aviation as a whole. The Japanese only lost 110 aircrew during the battle, mostly from the Hiryū with American aircrew losses being far greater than the Japanese. The Japanese still had more warships of every category than the United States had in the Pacific and the Combined Fleet still possessed eight aircraft carriers, twice as many as the US Pacific Fleet. Additionally, while the United States did have three large carriers in the Pacific, in comparison to Japan's two, the Japanese vessels had a total capacity for 382 aircraft, compared to 300 on the American carriers. Also, the Japanese had another carrier already fitting out to join the fleet and two more in the later stages of construction. The American industry would deliver only small escort carriers during 1942, of which more than two thirds were sent to the Atlantic; the massive shipbuilding program would not get into full gear until the following year. Consequently, for the time being the Japanese retained the advantage. As for naval aircraft, the Japanese were