ORIGINAL: geofflambert
There was a historical battle (forget which one) where the Enterprise was operating with another CV (in the same hex in game terms) but was hidden by a squall when the attack came and the other CV took all of it.
ORIGINAL: General Patton
Midway, I think....GP
Santa Cruz is what you're thinking of.
The Enterprise and Hornet were operating together at Midway, but the Yorktown was separate and probably 1-2 hexes away in game terms.
At Santa Cruz the Enterprise also had the benefit of operating with a BB which both drew bombers and was able to significantly contribute to the AA defense. The Enterprise still took a couple of bomb hits after the Hornet was out of action which shut down the deck for launches and jammed one of the elevators in the up position, but in one of the best landing operations of the war the LSO crammed planes onto the crowded deck. The Captain ordered him to stop when the planes backed up to the #3 wire, but he kept landing them. He held off the commander of VF-6 until last because he knew he was the best pilot on the ship. With only one wire still open, he directed the Wildcat to touch down a hair above stall speed and the Wildcat finished its run out inches from the tail of an SBD.
The LSO knew aircraft were running short and wanted to save as many as possible.
The Japanese and American strikes crossed each other in flight. The Japanese escorts peeled off and went after the after the US bombers breaking up the formation and shooting down or shooting up quite a few. One TBF that was badly damaged made it to the Japanese fleet, got into drop range, only to find his bomb bay was damaged and the torpedo would not release, nor would the bomb bay doors close. He flew back and was directed to ditch next to the USS Porter. It's believed the torpedo broke free while ditching and hit the Porter. For years it was thought to have been a Japanese sub, but there were none anywhere near the TF.
I once had a Battle of Rabaul with 4 Japanese CVs vs the Yorktowns. I still held Rabaul and had a bunch of fighters there as well as a few bombers. When the Japanese were spotted leaving Turk, the Yorktowns happened to be crossing the Coral Sea on their way to Java. I was able to top up their tanks and move them just south of Rabaul. For the first two days of the battle heavy storms over my carriers prevented flight ops as well as the Japanese knowing I was there. The KB lost a lot of planes ravaging Rabaul and pretty much wiped out the aircraft there. On day 3 the USN had clear skies and they pummeled the KB. I think two carriers lost, one badly mauled (Shokaku) in exchange for a bad torpedo hit on the Hornet. The Hornet spent a few weeks at Rabaul patching up then limped back to Pearl Harbor. The Enterprise and Yorktown air groups were badly mauled and it took a while to replace and retrain pilots.
It was worth it though. the Shokaku was out of action for a year or more and I think it was the Akagi and Hiryu sunk.
I'm sure if I had been on the other side of that one I would have been very upset!
Oh and I don't think the weather is fixed. The rule of thumb is if it can vary in the real world, it probably does in game too.
Bill