By early 1945, the U.S. Navy's Fast Carrier Task Forces had become the dominant striking arm in the Pacific. Task Force 58, operating under Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, ranged freely against Japanese home islands, airfields, and shipping while supporting the Iwo Jima landings. Behind the visible spectacle of carrier strikes and fleet actions stood an enormous organization — the shore establishments, training pipelines, supply depots, aviation ordnance handlers, aircraft maintenance crews, and repair ships that kept hundreds of aircraft flying under sustained combat conditions. The March 1945 Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin examined this support structure in six pages: who the men were, what they did, and how the Navy's logistical reach made extended carrier operations across thousands of miles of ocean possible.
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