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uite a lot depends on the coordination of the attacks, neamly the coordination with torpedo attack planes. If Hiyo had operated with the group of Junyo and coordinated the attack with the main carrier force of Shokaku and Zuikaku, the overwhelming number of aircraft could have been decisive, but if she attacked on her own, with a small airstrike, the USN could have evaded it more easily. Since Hiyo most likely did not yet have a torpedobomber force, she could likely not have pressed home her attack, due to the lesser power of the divebomberforce.

Hiyo would have opperated with Junyo. Together they would have been able to launch a good sized strike.

Historically Junyo lanched 3 strikes;

17 Dive bomers + 12 fighters
7 Torpedo bombers + 8 fighters
4 topedo bombers + 6 fighters

Obviously no strike except for the first one really large enough to make a big impact against a fully operation carrier with good CAP.

If the IJN had Hiyo's planes added to Junyo's first strike that basically doubles the number of attack craft in the strike. The IJN may also instead chosen to have the first strike be a mix of Hiyo's dive bombers and Junyo's Torpedo bombers for a respectible sized strike of16 Dive Bombers and 7 Torpedo Bombers. That is a pretty good sized strike for this period of the war.

Caveat; the number of additioanl planes Hiyo would bring tot he battle remains in question. I have seen it referenced that after Hiyo was damaged some of her planes were moved to Junyo. I have no idea which and how many Hiyo planes went into battle on Junyo.

To get back to the original question;

If the only counter historical is the presence of Hiyo I would assume she would operate in conjunction with Junyo as part of the Advanced Force. We can therefore also assume that she would launch a strike along with Junyo's. The relevant questions then become;

1. What is composition of this strike.
2. What is the likelihood that it will inflict more damage than in OTL.
3. What is that damage likely to be, and is it enough to sink Enterprise.

As for #1;

I think the 2 most likely strikes from J&H would be either;

A. 16 dive bombers (Junyo) + 17 divebombers (Hiyo)

B. 7 torpedo bombers (Junyo) + 17 dive bombers (Hiyo)

A has the advantage of being homogenous and faster to the target while B has the advantages inherent in a mixed strike, but would be slower to the target due to the TB's slower cruising speed.

As for #2;

I thing it is quite likely that a strike either 50%-100% larger than OTL is likely to inflict more damage on its target. Adding that many strike planes has the bonus of exponentially reducing the effectiveness of the CAP and AAA.

It would not be that hard to improve on the OTL Junyo's strike which, according to Wiki;

"At 11:21, the Junyō Vals arrived and dove on the Enterprise task force. The Vals scored one near miss on Enterprise, causing more damage, and one hit each on South Dakota and cruiser USS San Juan, causing moderate damage to both ships. Eleven of the 17 Vals were destroyed in this attack"

As for #3;

But even if we assume a direct hit or 2 for additional dive bombers that is unlikely to be enough to sink Enterprise. It could very well however have been enough to force Enterprise to halt flight operations for a prolonged period. If that had happened the subsequent strikes (launched by J&H and/or Zuikaku) would have enjoyed attacking against only limited (and worn out) CAP. That could have proven fatal to the Enterprise, even considering the relatively small sized follow-on strikes the Japanese could launch.

Now if J&H had launched strike B above, then it is quite possible that Enterprise could have suffered a torp hit (or less likely 2). Could this be enough, in the face of an onrushing enemy surface force, to force the USN to scuttle her?

To return to the topic again, I suppose the influence of IJN Hiyo at Santa Cruz would not have made much impact, as her airgroup was not that large and powerfull to make much impact on the USN forces there, besides creating more damage, while lacking a crippling punch to turn the tables.

Such a simplistic summation demonstrates either a lack or effort on your part or a lack of knowledge of the battle's details.

Here's a little chronological description of the battle for you I put together using Wiki.

06:45, a U.S. scout aircraft sighted the carriers of Nagumo's main body.

06:58, a Japanese scout aircraft reported the location of Hornet's task force

07:40 Japanese first to get their strike launched, with 64 aircraft, including 21 "Val" dive bombers, 20 "Kate" torpedo bombers, 21 Zero fighters, and two "Kate" command and control aircraft on the way towards Hornet.

07:40, two U.S. SBD Dauntless scout aircraft, responding to the earlier sighting of the Japanese carriers, arrived and dove on Zuihō. With the Japanese combat air patrol (CAP) busy chasing other U.S. scout aircraft away, the two U.S. aircraft were able to approach and drop both of their bombs on Zuihō, causing heavy damage and preventing the carrier's flight deck from being able to land aircraft.

08:00 Hornet launches 1^st strike of 8 F +15 DB + 6 TB.

08:10 Enterprise launches strike of 8 F +3 DB + 7 TB

08:10, Shōkaku launched a second wave of strike aircraft, consisting of 8 F + 19 DB

08:20 Hornet launches her 2^nd strike of 7 F + 9 DB + 8 TB

08:40 Zuikaku launched 16 TB

08:40 The opposing aircraft strike formations passed within sight of each other. 9 F from Zuihō surprised and attacked the Enterprise group, attacking the climbing aircraft from out of the sun. In the resulting engagement, four Zeros, three Wildcats, and two TBFs were shot down, with another two TBFs and a Wildcat forced by heavy damage to return to Enterprise.

08:50, the lead U.S. attack formation from Hornet spotted four ships from Abe's Vanguard force. Pressing on, the U.S. aircraft sighted the Japanese carriers and prepared to attack. Twenty Zeros from the Japanese carrier CAP attacked the SBD formation and shot down four of them.

08:52, the Japanese strike force commander sighted the Hornet task force (the Enterprise task force was hidden by a rain squall) and deployed his aircraft for attack.

08:55, the U.S. carriers detected the approaching Japanese aircraft on radar, about 35 nmi (65 km) away, and began to vector the 37 Wildcat fighters of their CAP to engage the incoming Japanese aircraft. However, communication problems, mistakes by the U.S. fighter control directors, and primitive control procedures prevented all but a few of the U.S. fighters from engaging the Japanese aircraft before they began their attacks on Hornet.^[39] Although the U.S. CAP was able to shoot down several Vals, most of the Japanese aircraft commenced their attacks relatively unmolested by U.S. fighters.

09:05-09:14, Junyō arrives within 280 nmi (520 km) of the U.S. carriers and launched a strike of 12 F + 17 DB.

09:09, the anti-aircraft guns of Hornet and her escorting warships opened fire as the 20 untouched Japanese Kates and remaining 16 Vals commenced their attacks on the carrier.

09:12 a Val placed its 250-kilogram, semi-armor-piercing bomb dead center on Hornet's flight deck, across from the island, which penetrated three decks before exploding, killing 60 men. Moments later, a 242-kilogram "land" bomb struck the flight deck, detonating on impact and creating an 11-foot (3.3 m) hole as well as killing 30 men. A minute or so later, a third bomb hit Hornet near where the first bomb hit, penetrating three decks before exploding, causing severe damage but no direct loss of life.

09:14 a diving Val was hit and damaged by anti-aircraft fire directly over Hornet. The damaged Val crashed into Hornet's stack, spreading burning aviation fuel over the signal deck.

09:13 - 09:17 Despite suffering heavy losses from anti-aircraft fire, the Kates planted two torpedoes in Hornet, knocking out her engines. As Hornet glided to a stop, a damaged Val approached and purposely crashed into the carrier's side, starting a fire near the ship's main supply of aviation fuel. At

09:20, the surviving Japanese aircraft departed, leaving Hornet dead in the water and burning. Twenty-five Japanese and six U.S. aircraft were destroyed in this first attack on Hornet.

09:27 The remaining 11 SBDs commenced their attack dives on Shōkaku, hitting her with 3- 6 bombs, ruining her flight deck and causing serious damage to the interior of the ship. The final SBD of the 11 lost track of the Shōkaku and instead dropped its bomb near the Japanese destroyer Teruzuki, causing minor damage. The six TBFs in the first strike force, having become separated from their strike group, missed finding the Japanese carriers and eventually turned back towards Hornet. On the way back, they attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser Tone, missing with all of their torpedoes.

09:30 second wave of Japanese aircraft spotted inbound on Enterprise radar

10:00 With Enterprise flight deck full she ceased landing operations in preparation for inbound Japanese strike.

10:00 With the assistance of firehoses from three escorting destroyers, the fires on Hornet were under control by. Wounded personnel were evacuated from the carrier, and an attempt was made by the cruiser USS Northampton to tow Hornet away from the battle area. However, the effort to rig the towline took some time, and more attack waves of Japanese aircraft were inbound.

10:08 the second Japanese aircraft strike wave, believing Hornet to be sinking, directed their attacks on the Enterprise task force. Again, the U.S. CAP had trouble intercepting the Japanese aircraft before they attacked Enterprise, shooting down only two of the 19 Vals as they began their dives on the carrier. Attacking through the intense anti-aircraft fire put-up by Enterprise and her escorting warships, the Vals hit the carrier with two 250-kilogram bombs and near-missed with another, causing heavy damage to the carrier and jamming her forward elevator in the "up" position. Twelve of the 19 Vals were lost in this attack.

10:30 the 16 Zuikaku Kates arrived and split up to attack Enterprise. One group of Kates was attacked by two CAP Wildcats which shot down three of them and damaged a fourth. On fire, the fourth damaged Kate purposely crashed into the destroyer USS Smith, setting the ship on fire and killing 57 of her crew. The destroyer steered into the spraying wake of the battleship USS South Dakota to help put out the fires and then resumed her station, firing her remaining anti-aircraft guns at the still attacking Kates.

The remaining Kates attacked Enterprise, South Dakota, and cruiser USS Portland, but all of their torpedoes missed or were duds, causing no damage. The engagement was over at 10:53 with nine of the 16 attacking Kates shot down., at

11:15 After suppressing most of the onboard fires Enterprise reopened her flight deck to begin landing returning aircraft from the morning U.S. strikes on the Japanese warship forces. However, only a few aircraft landed before the next wave of Japanese strike aircraft arrived and began their attacks on Enterprise, forcing a suspension of landing operations.

11:21 Junyō's strike attacks Enterprise task force. Scores one near miss on Enterprise, causing more damage, and one hit each on South Dakota and cruiser USS San Juan, causing moderate damage to both ships. Eleven of the 17 DB were destroyed in this attack.

11:35 Kinkaid decides to withdraw Enterprise and her screening ships from the battle, since Hornet was out of action. Enterprise was heavily damaged. He directed Hornet's task force to follow as soon as they were able.

11:39-13:22, Enterprise recovered 57 of the 73 airborne U.S. aircraft as she headed away from the battle. The remaining U.S. aircraft ditched in the ocean, and their aircrews were rescued by escorting warships.

13:06 Junyō launched second strike of 7 TB + 8 F; Zuikaku launched her third strike of 7 TB + 2 DB + 5 F (TOTALS = 13 F + 2 DB + 14 TB).

15:35 Junyō launched the last Japanese strike force of the day, 6 F + 4 TB

15:20 Junyō's second strike arrived and attacked the almost stationary Hornet.

15:23 One torpedo struck Hornet, destroying the repairs to the power system, causing heavy flooding and a 14-degree list. With no power to pump out the water, Hornet was given up for lost, and the crew abandoned ship. The third strike from Zuikaku attacked Hornet during this time, hitting the sinking ship with one more bomb.

16:27 All of the Hornet's crewmen off ship.

17:20 The last Japanese strike of the day dropped one more bomb on the sinking Hornet.