Naval history of World War II 4–7, 1942, the United States Navy decisively defeated a Japanese naval force that had sought to lure the U.S. carrier fleet into a trap at Midway Atoll. The Japanese fleet lost four aircraft carriers to the U.S. Navy's one American carrier and a destroyer. After Midway, and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas. Military historian John Keegan called the Battle of Midway "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval
Task Force 88 (United States Navy) the naval bombardment. As discussed at the task force page, the United States Navy system means that the same TF number can be reused for an entirely different operation years later; TF 88 was the designation later chosen for Operation Argus, an ocean-based US nuclear test series in the late 1950s. Task Force 88 (United States Navy) Task Force 88 (TF88) was the escort carrier force, commanded by Rear-Admiral T H Troubridge, that supported Operation Dragoon, the allied invasion of southern France. It was activated in August 1944, and dispersed on 29 August when the carrier force departed to operate