Task Force (film) footage documenting the rise of naval aviation as well as Technicolor footage filmed during the war in the Pacific, including the Battle of Midway, the Japanese attack on and a kamikaze attack on USS "Franklin". Encouraged by the offer of support from the U.S. Navy, when the production received permission to proceed with a film, a decision was made to shoot the first segments in black-and-white to merge into the original footage of the , the first American aircraft carrier, and . Principal photography began in late 1948 on the escort carrier, to replicate USS "Langley", as well as Naval
Propaganda in Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II that the carrier "Hornet" had been sunk, thus taking revenge for its part in the Doolittle Raid, when in fact "Hornet" had not been in the battle. The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, while a Japanese tactical victory, gained time for the Americans on Guadalcanal and inflicted heavy losses on Japanese aircraft; it was considered so momentous that it was praised in an imperial rescript. However, by 1943, the Japanese population was aware of the stark difference between the crude propaganda and the facts. The death of Isoroku Yamamoto inflicted a severe blow. It was followed by defeat at