Just a qucik picture of Task Force 58.

[JohnDillworth]

Count em up gents

[pws1225]

Aren't they violating the 25 ship limit for air combat/surface combat TFs?

[Terminus]

TF 38/58 was so huge that our 25-ship limit would apply to the TGs that were its subunits.

[pws1225]

TF or TG, it's one hell of an impressive sight!

[dr.hal]

I don't have that many fingers and toes to count on!

[tocaff]

The Big Blue Fleet.

[jmalter]

Ain't this a picture of the anchorage at Ulithi?

So it's a bunch of ships 'disbanded in port', TF size limits don't apply.

[wdolson]

I think it is. When at sea they were spread out more.

It would be dangerous for carriers to operate that close together. The early war IJN carrier divisions did operate with pairs of carriers side by side, but they built the islands on opposite sides of the carriers so the aircraft could have opposite circuit patterns, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. In practice this didn't work so well.

USN carriers all had the same traffic patterns and needed to be far enough apart so the planes in the circuit didn't interfere with one another.

It looks like an AD with a nest of DDs in the middle of the picture and only one ship has a wake. The ships in the picture are clearly at anchor. However, it is an illustration of US naval power by mid-1944. Only one navy had that many large CVs as seen in that picture. And what is visible is only a sample of what was available.

Bill

[John 3rd]

Certainly makes you truly wonder and scratch your head at Japan's starting the war doesn't it? Magnificent picture.

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I think it is. When at sea they were spread out more.

It would be dangerous for carriers to operate that close together. The early war IJN carrier divisions did operate with pairs of carriers side by side, but they built the islands on opposite sides of the carriers so the aircraft could have opposite circuit patterns, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. In practice this didn't work so well.

USN carriers all had the same traffic patterns and needed to be far enough apart so the planes in the circuit didn't interfere with one another.

It looks like an AD with a nest of DDs in the middle of the picture and only one ship has a wake. The ships in the picture are clearly at anchor. However, it is an illustration of US naval power by mid-1944. Only one navy had that many large CVs as seen in that picture. And what is visible is only a sample of what was available.

Bill

12-15 miles between the center of carrier task groups sailing together.

[t001001001]

Now then, who can identify each ship

[rockmedic109]

ORIGINAL: t001001001

Now then, who can identify each ship

There is at least 10-12 here who can. Half of them are feverishly looking at all the ships and writing down IDs. The other half are determining the age of the photograph down to a period of 36 hours and looking up what the composition of TF58 was in that time frame.[:D]

[nashvillen]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

ORIGINAL: t001001001

Now then, who can identify each ship

There is at least 10-12 here who can. Half of them are feverishly looking at all the ships and writing down IDs. The other half are determining the age of the photograph down to a period of 36 hours and looking up what the composition of TF58 was in that time frame.[:D]

And, I halfway believe Rockmedic109 is serious. I picked out a couple of the classes that were easily identifiable (Essex class CVs, SD class BB, Some of the DD classes up close), and I am sure there are many others here that I much better at it than I.

[AW1Steve]

Actually I'd match up the photo with the USN NAVHIST photo base. That would give you the exact date. (And probably more data). THEN I'd start trying to ID ships and match up known ships with known units at the time. [:D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: t001001001

Now then, who can identify each ship

warspite1

Noob Who can name each crew member of each ship [;)]

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: t001001001

Now then, who can identify each ship

warspite1

Noob Who can name each crew member of each ship [;)]

Not as impossible as you might think....providing you live in the Washington DC area. If you have the ship name, hull number and date , you can go to the national archives and get that month's muster list and the ship's log for that period (assuming the ship didn't sink). I've done that many times .

[Lecivius]

Ok, but for the REAL challenge you must identify their siblings, in genealogical order!

[Amoral]

I do not think this is not a picture of TF 58 which did not include any support ships (several of which can be seen in this picture).

The same picture appears in Capt. Cliff's "Ulithi" post which indicates it is 3rd fleet at anchor in Ulithi Lagoon, December 1944.

[wdolson]

Just posted a link to a movie of Ulithi from the air taken about the same time as the above picture in the Ulithi thread.

The quality of the picture above is not that great, but I have seen forum members identify individual ships from pictures like that using the camo patterns as a guide.

Bill

[LeeChard]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Certainly makes you truly wonder and scratch your head at Japan's starting the war doesn't it? Magnificent picture.

Even though a few Japanese officers were acutely aware of our industrial capacity,
even they probably could not imagine the amount of shipping the United States could produce.
Looking at pictures like these it's hard for me to wrap my head around it, and I'm standing on this side of history[X(]