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 fleet oiler Kazahaya Japanese fleet oiler Kazahaya The was a Japanese fleet oiler, serving during the Second World War. In 1941, the IJN wanted fleet oilers for their carrier task force, because they had only the eight old, low-speed tankers. The IJN prepared sixteen "Kawasaki"-type tankers to solve this. However, they did not have facilities for gasoline. The IJN intended to build four "Kazahaya"s (Ship # 304-307). However, all naval arsenals were crowded at the outbreak of war. The IJN bought one of the same type of merchant tanker made by Harima with the "Kazahaya" naval budget. She succeeded in one transportation duty,