"What would a Battleship task force comprise of?" Topic

I am a little new to naval war-gaming, and was wondering what an American and Japanese Battleship task force consisted of in WWII. I am looking in the 1943 time period, are there any websites or books that would have this information?. I just want to know if Battleship went looking for trouble what type of support ships would come with it, like how many destroyers, cruisers, ect… Thanks in advance ………………..Doug

There really isn't a "TO&E" (tables of equipment and organization) for naval fleets. What ships were in a task force was mainly dependent on; what was available, what was the expected opposition, and especially what the mission was.

As the war went on, a Japanese force would be smaller while an American one would be larger.

Morrison's "History of US Navy Operations in WWII" lists the organization of most task forces so you'll probably get the best reference for a specific time period there.

Wyatt

Yeah, it was just what was on hand at the time. For example, off Guadalcanal Washington and South Dakota went into action with only a handful of destroyers for escort – they'd certainly have sent more if they had it.

In the actions around that time, the Japanese BCs Hiei and Kirishima went in with a bunch of DDs and some CAs and CLs.

-Kle.

P.S. – yes, I know the japanese classed them as battleships.

Washington and South Dakota went in without cruisers because the USN cruiser force had gotten so badly beaten up two nights ago. The four destroyers, which had never operated together before, were chosen because they had the most fuel oil in their bunkers.

You can find some lovely orbats here: link

Well I am going to state the obvious, a battleship.

"Task Force" is more of a name applied to a given group of ships and an administrative organization, rather than a formal organization of specific ships and orders of battle.

Going into the Pacific War both the US and Japanese had squadron and division arrangements I believe, all the way up to battleship level. These broke down very rapidly however due to battle damage, shifing escorts for the carrier groups, and many other causes. Ships from these squadrons would be snatched as needed and as available to make up ad-hoc task forces. The US "task force" at first Guadalcanal for example was put together ad-hoc from carrier escorts from nearby carriers, ships that had been in theatre for a while, transport escorts, and newly deployed ships. It never had a chance to exercise together and was not in any way a cohesive force.

It is my understanding Japanese destroyer groups tended to operate in formal, long-standing squadrons of like-classed ships with one or more squadrons attached to a light cruiser, at least until mid-late 1943. By that time the squadrons had been ravaged by attrition and many squadrons were reconsitituted out of survivers of squadrons. For example, Shigure, Samadare and Shiratsuyu operated together as a squadron for years.