Primary striking force of the US Navy in the Pacific War
Fast Carrier Task Force
Task Force 38 at Ulithi in December 1944
Active
1944–45
Country
United States
Branch
United States Navy
Type
Fleet
Size
17 carriers, 6 battleships, 13 cruisers, 58 destroyers, 1,100 aircraft (December 1944);[1] increased for Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945
Part of
United States Pacific Fleet
Garrison/HQ
Pearl Harbor
Nickname(s)
Task Force 38, Task Force 58
Engagements
Pacific War
Commanders
Notable commanders
Admiral Marc Mitscher Admiral John S. McCain, Sr. Admiral John H. Towers
Military unit
The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet) was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in September 1945. The task force was made up of several separate task groups, each typically built around three to four aircraft carriers and their supporting vessels. The support vessels were screening destroyers, cruisers, and the newly built fast battleships.[2]
^Chant, Christopher (2013). The Encyclopedia of Codenames of World War II. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1134647873.
^Taylor p. 170
and 12 Related for: Fast Carrier Task Force information
The FastCarrierTaskForce (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet) was the main striking force of the United States Navy...
light carriers became available, which required larger formations of three or four carriers. These groups eventually formed the FastCarrierTaskForce, which...
admiral in the United States Navy, and served as commander of the FastCarrierTaskForce in the Pacific during World War II. Mitscher was born in Hillsboro...
relying on the protection of a FastCarrierTaskForce. However, at the Battle off Samar, one U.S. taskforce of escort carriers and destroyers managed to...
in July 1941. TaskForce 31 TaskForce 34 TaskForce 37, a Carrier Battle Group of the British Pacific Fleet redesignated from TaskForce 57 in May 1945...
was actually to engage and defeat the FastCarrierTaskForce in a decisive battle. On 12 June 1944 U.S. carriers made air strikes on the Marianas, convincing...
Kidō Butai ("Mobile Force"), was a name used for a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups of the...
of large-scale aerial engagements between carrier air groups of the United States Navy FastCarrierTaskForce (TF 38) and Japanese land-based air forces...
was in the form of the FastCarrierTaskForce, the product of US industrial capacity coupled with her innovation. The taskforce was overwhelmingly powerful...
nicknamed "tin cans" because they lacked armor—were fast enough to keep up with a fastcarriertaskforce. Each had five single-mounted 5-inch (127 mm) guns...
Global Information
United States
United States Navy