Task Force 17 Task Force 17 Task Force 17 (TF17) was an aircraft carrier task force of the United States Navy during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. TF17 participated in several major carrier battles in the first year of the war. TF17 was initially centered around . With "Yorktown", TF17 engaged Imperial Japanese Navy forces in actions at the Marshalls-Gilberts raids, Invasion of Lae-Salamaua, Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Battle of Midway. "Yorktown" was sunk at Midway. Reformed around and commanded by RADM George Murray, TF17 supported Allied forces during the Guadalcanal Campaign. At the Battle of the Santa
1st Air Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy) the Japanese carrier force was again practically without aircrew and aircraft. This meant that at the Battle of Leyte Gulf the IJN carrier force was only used as a decoy force where it was ultimately destroyed, the battle that saw the last "Kidō Butai" survivor, "Zuikaku", along with "Zuiho", "Chiyoda" and "Chitose" succumbing to US air attacks of Admiral William F. Halsey's Task Force 38. 1st Air Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy) The also known as the "Kidō Butai" ("Mobile Force"), was a name used for a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups