U.S. Navy Task Force carriers at Pacific base. Aircraft carriers of U.S.

U.S. Navy Task Force carriers at Pacific base. Aircraft carriers of U.S. Navy Task Force 58 lie an anchor at a Pacific base. Task Force 58, under the command of Vice-Admiral Marc Mitcher, participated in the battle for Saipan Island in the Marianas which the U.S. wrested from the Japanese on July 8, 1944. The task force has struck the enemy only 500 miles (800 kilometers) from his homeland, and continuously harries his dwindling forces from one end of the Japanese island defens chain to the other.