Fast Carrier Task Force in WWII Task Force 58 Marianas Turkey Shoot
Made in 1945, Task Force 58 shows the activities of the Fast Carrier Task Force in WWII, known as “Task Force 58”. The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 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. The film opens in the Marianas with the so-called Marianas Turkey Shoot, through the invasion of Okinawa, the devastating kamikaze attacks, and it even covers the last two years of the war up until and including the assault on Iwo Jima and the atomic bombing of Japan.