The Task Forces are large groups of military ships centered around a small group of ships. Each Task Force is composed of Task Groups. Each Task Groups are composed of different category ships: the center is made of one or more carriers (the capital ship). It is from those carriers that the aircraft support comes with a range of about 360km. The battleships and cruisers are around that center to form a basic DCA cover. A second perimeter 4000m around the center is made by about ten destroyers: they have an anti-submarine/anti-aircraft function. When enemy airplanes are detected, especially with Kamikazes attacks, the destroyers get closer to the battleships to increase the saturation of the DCA. The Task Groups are separated from each other by 18km from center to center.
Here is an example of Task Group: Task Group 3 under the orders of counter-admiral Sherman of the Task Force 58 under the orders of Mitscher:
- Carriers: Bunker Hill (89 aircrafts), Monterey (34) and Cowpens (33)
- Battleships: 7th division of battleships: New Jersey and Iowa
- Cruiser: Wichita (heavy cruiser)
- Destroyers: 46th division of destroyers composed of 9 destroyers.
Engine: 4 star-engines Wright R-1820 Cyclone of 1200 horsepower.
Armament: 13 machine guns Browning of 12,7mm and a capacity of 8tons of bombs.
Speed: 483km/h at 9 000m
Ceiling: 10 500m
Range: 3 000km
Weight: 14 822kg empty; 24 915kg full
Width: 31,14m
Length: 22,30m
Height: 5,72m
Team: 10 men
Engines: 4 star-engines Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp of 1200 horsepower
Armament: 10 machine guns Browning fo 12mm and a capacity of 5,8tons of bombs.
Speed: 482km/h at 9 000m
Ceiling: 9 800m
Range: 3 400km
Weight: 16 556kg empty; 32 296kg full
Width: 33,50m
Length: 20,47m
Height: 5,48m
Team: 12 men
Engine: 2 engines Allison V-1710 in line of 1425 horsepower
Armament: one canon AN. M2 of 20mm fed at 150 shots
4 machine guns Colt-Browning MC 53 of 12,7mm fed at 500 and 300 shots
2 bombs of 226kg, 453kg, 725kg or 10 rockets of 12,7cm
Speed: 666km/h at 7 500m
Vertical velocity: 4 500m in 5 minutes
Ceiling: 13 200m
Range: 3 636km with external tanks
Weight: 5 789kg empty; 9785 full
Width: 15,60m
Length: 11,35m
Height: 2,85m
Engine: Packard V-1650 Merlin in line of 1695 horsepower
Armament: 6 machine guns Browning MG 53 of 12,7mm fed at 400 shots and at 270 shots
453kg of bombs or 6 rocket of 12,7cm
Speed: 700km/h at 7 500m
Vertical velocity: 6 000m in 7 minutes 18 seconds
Ceiling: 12 570m
Range: 3 346km with external tanks
Weight: 3 228kg empty; 5 481kg full
Width: 11,10m
Length: 9,68m
Height: 4,10m
In 1943 the United States buy the first set of these enormous bomber; the most powerful of the whole war. Equiped with 4 engines Wright Cyclone of 2200 horsepower each the bomber can get a speed of 570km/h at 10 000m. It can have onboard an average of 5000kg of bombs to have a range of 5200km. The plane can weight up to 61 tons. Its vertical velocity is very slow: 38 minutes to be at 6000m. Its team is composed of 10 to 14 men to pilot and fire the 4 remote controlled from the piloting space turrets and 13 machine guns of 12,7mm and a turret with guns of 20mm. Two canons of 20mm at the front complete the armament. The two big progresses of that bomber are that many of its turrets are controlled electronically with the radar and also that the inside is pressurized (thus no other planes -the japanese fighters- can fly that high).
The airplane was at first used from China to bomb Japan with a minimal capacity. By that mean Tokyo was bombed in 1944. After to conquest of the Mariannes and of Saipan the number of raids increases. The losses are very light since the japanese fighters can't compete with the speed and ceiling of the B-29 and the few type of planes that get that high are saturated by the heavy fire of the electronic turrets that cover every directions. After December 1944 the raids become more and more intense. March 9th 1945 one of the most destructive raid is made on Tokyo: 35km square are destroyed and 100 000 Japaneses die. At the end the B-29 Enola Gay and Bock's Car are used to drop the atomic bombs.
The Japaneses wanted to create a battleship that would be greater than any other battleship in everything. The engineers started to draw plans in 1935 and its only in 1937 that the final product was accepted. A battleship was then built: 64 000 tons of steel, 263m in length, 39m in width and 10m deep in the water. An armor of 64cm was installed over the turrets, it was equiped with 9 canons of 457, the armor of the bridge was of 23cm and it had a maximum speed of 27 knots.
Four of these battleships were called: the Yamato exited the factory in August 1940 and it was ready just after Pearl Harbor . Then the Musahi was built (it was sunk at the Leyte Battle) in November and was ready in August 1942. Te third battleship was stopped by the beginning of the war and finally touched the water in December 1941 to be as soon transformed into a carrier: it sailed October 1944 and was torpedoed by a submarine before being finished.
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