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
Task Force 61 Division. Later, in October 1942, the Task Force, now under Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, confronted a force directed by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in the same area. In late October, the Task Force consisted of the USS "Enterprise", USS "South Dakota", the cruisers USS "Portland" and USS "San Juan", and eight destroyers. The Task Force formed one of the two U.S. carrier groups that took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. As such it represented the combined command of Task Force 11, Task Force 16 and Task Force 18. Task Force 61 was dissolved in the