Several techniques were used. The simplest was just arranging a rendezvous before take-off. The mission plan would give details of where the carrier was planning to be when the pilots were returning. This was doable because strikes were only launched when the range and bearing to a target were known, so a flight plan could be worked out to fit the carrier's manoeuvres. Slightly more complex was the use of dead reckoning. This relied not on knowing the carrier's intended position, but rather the carrier's planned speed and course. With these, the pilot (or navigator on two/three man aircraft) could plot the carrier's position at any time. From this, a return course could be plotted. However, these two methods gave carrier captains little flexibility. They had to steer particular courses, or linger at particular rendezvous points. Should a carrier have to make violent manoeuvres, or a flight become lost, then the carrier could simply radio its position to the pilots. On carriers fitted with radar, then this could be used to vector lost pilots in. These two methods were of limited utility in combat situations though, as to break radio silence risked allowing the enemy to find the carrier. Broadcasting the carrier's position was also a risk, should anyone be listening in. A final method was the use of radio beacons. This was a rotating narrow-beam radio antenna. The radio in the carrier's planes were tuned to its frequency, and would pick up the narrow beam signal as it swept across the plane. All the pilot had to do was to follow the beam in.

The US used a navigation system called "YE-ZB". "YE" was a Ultra High Frequency (UHF) omnidirectional beacon that broadcast a unique Morse code letter for each 30° arc using a slowly rotating antenna. The letter-arc combination changed daily, and the signal was modulated, so required the appropriate demodulator gear ("ZB") to receive. If you could pick up the signal, you knew where you were in relation to the carrier within +- 15°. If you crossed into the adjacent arc, you had a pretty good idea of the bearing to the carrier. The system had some limitations. To prevent the enemy from using the signal, it wasn't very high power, and the UHF signal was line-of-sight only, so if the carrier was below the horizon, you couldn't receive the signal. This was a problem for the TBD Devastators, since they used most of their fuel lugging their torpedoes to the target, and egressed at very low altitude, so were reluctant to use precious fuel to climb to altitude. Single-seat fighters were also at a disadvantage, having no radio operator to assist in navigation.