Battlestations: Pacific/Battle of Santa Cruz

If this is your first time through the campaign and you're going for a gold medal, it's not recommended that you upgrade your Northampton to an Atlanta. Yes, you will be facing several squadrons of aircraft, but the Northampton and her 8" artillery guns are a much better choice when you're face-to-face with the Vanguard Force – a flotilla of three Japanese battleships, escorted by two destroyers. In order to earn the Gold Medal, you'll need to sink at least one of the Battleships.

Primary Objectives
 * Sink the Japanese Carrier Junyo.
 * Sink the Japanese Carrier Zuiho.

Hidden Objectives
 * Sink a Battleship from the Vanguard Force.

Protecting the Big E
You begin the mission with minimum control over the USS Enterprise. She's being escorted by three Clemson-class destroyers (Preston, Maury, and Cushing), and is about to come under attack from Japanese strike planes.

Immediately launch two squads of Wildcat fighters and direct them in a northern direction from the Enterprise. Eventually two squads of enemy attack planes will show up on radar. Send both of your Wildcat squads to take them out. Repeat for the next wave of the attack.

After the second wave is shot from the skies, you're notified that a friendly recon plane has spotted the Junyo, and her two escort destroyers the Hayashio and Kuroshio. At this point the Enterprise will now have four aircraft slots from which you can launch planes, and you are now able to man her flak guns.

If you're playing on the Regular difficulty, you can land (or ditch into the ocean if you don't feel like waiting) both Wildcat squadrons, and put up nothing but attack planes to send towards the Junyo and sink her with a combined strike of Dauntlesses and Avengers. However, on Veteran difficulty, your attack planes will be ripped to shreds from a combination of the AA fire from the three ships, as well as the single squad of A6M Zeros that is constantly flying CAP around the Japanese carrier.

If you're playing on Veteran (without the TBM Avenger), leave at least one squad of Wildcats in the air. Right as you send in your attack aircraft for a bombing or torpedo run, have your squad of Wildcats move ahead in front and target the Zeros. Even if your Wildcats get shot down, this will distract the fighters long enough to keep them off your Avenger and Dauntless squads. Repeat until Junyo sinks beneath the waves.

Once Junyo is sunk, the battleship South Dakota, and her two escort ships will arrive and be under you control. Immediately within range, are the Japanese heavy cruisers Takao and Tone. Sink them both.

Direct your battleship and her escorts due north of their current position. You're going to cut off the Zuiho before she can escape off of the easternmost side of the map.

At this point you'll see a large number of incoming Japanese aircraft, all targeting your Enterprise. Man your flak and shoot down as many as you can, applying damage control where necessary.

Scuttling the Hornet and wounding the Vanguard Force
Around this time, you'll receive a radio message that the Hornet has been critically damaged. After she's been evacuated, you're charged with the task of scuttling her, so as to not let her fall into the hands of the Japanese. Take control of one of the two destroyers which are situated on either side of your now-barren carrier, and fire a full salvo of torpedoes into the Hornet's hull. Once she goes down, you will have unlocked the "Queen Sacrifice" achievement.

Move your westernmost fleet due north, and launch up four squadrons of your choice of attack planes from the Big E, and send them towards the far northwestern side of the map. This is where the Japanese Vanguard Force will eventually appear. All you need to do is sink a single one of the battleships to accomplish the hidden objective for this mission. Do this with a combination of your aircraft and your westernmost fleet, led by the Northampton.

If you're not going for the "Take No Prisoners" achievement, then after you sink a Vanguard battleship it's relatively smooth-sailing. The final target, the Japanese carrier Zuiho, will be cut off by the South Dakota you sent north earlier in the mission. Ignoring each one of her escort ships, fire salvo after salvo until she's destroyed, and your job here is done.