http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Philippine_Sea
I remember watching a history channel documentary about the
battle of the philippines sea not long ago. the america commander
received a report on the japanese task force's location at 4pm and
he agonized over the decision whether to seize the chance
to attack the japs. the downside was that many of his pilots had
little or no experience in night carrier landings.
in the end, he ordered the attack. many of his pilots could not
find their way home after the attack and expended all their fuel
before crashing into the sea.
as the seconds ticked by he ordered his entire task force to
turn on their search lights so that the returning pilots could see
them, against the risk of being detected by enemies
some others managed to make their way back but failed to make
the landing.
well...those who managed to land safely found that almost all of
them had landed on the wrong carriers in the mass confusion.