Michael, as for the Colorado's search planes, no, they were most emphatically not guided or controlled by the ship. This was 1937, remember - there was no radar, no homing gear, no LORAN or ZBX or any of the other "crude" navigational miracles that came about as WW II progressed. The naval aviators were taught navigation and the use of simple tools - a watch, a plotting board, a pencil, maybe a chart if warranted - and that was about it. They took off at a known time from a known position, and the ship was supposed to be at a known position when they were due to return. The Earhart searchers used charts (maps to us landlubbers) to get from where they were, the battleship, to each island, using those few tools. Yeah, it was crude, but most of the time, it got you where you needed to go.
During WW II, who knows how many reconnaisance planes (the dawn patrol guys) lost their lives when the carrier they left in the morning wasn't where it was supposed to be when they got back - conditions may have changed, a battle may have taken place, and the wartime rules about radio silence meant there was no way to get the word to the recon plane.
Military pilotes, as a rule, tend to be smart - Uncle Sam doesn't want morons piling his expensive little toys into the ocean or desert oe wherever unnecessarily. Naval aviators back then (and today, I would imagine) have to have an extra level of smarts due to the fact that their airfields move up and down and from side to side, so only the very brightest and the best make the cut.