Carrier battle group at the Battle of Midway. In contrast, the United States Navy deployed its large carriers in separate formations, with each carrier assigned its own cruiser and destroyer escorts. These single-carrier formations would often be paired or grouped together for certain assignments, most notably the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. By 1943, however, large numbers of fleet and light carriers became available, which required larger formations of three or four carriers. These groups eventually formed the Fast Carrier Task Force, which became the primary battle unit of the U.S. Fifth and Third Fleets. With the construction of the large
Japanese cruiser Noshiro October 1944, Force A was attacked 11 times by over 250 carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 comprising the aircraft carriers , "Lexington", , , and . Although the battleships , , , and the cruisers "Myōkō" and were damaged, "Noshiro" escaped unharmed. The following day, at the Battle off Samar, "Noshiro" hit the escort carrier with several 6-inch shells, but was in turn hit starboard side by a 5-inch shell from an American destroyer. She also participated in the sinking of the carrier , which was one of two cases of an aircraft carrier being sunk solely by naval