Task Force 88 (TF88) was the escort carrier force, commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas Hope Troubridge of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, that supported Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. It was activated in August 1944, and dispersed on 29 August when the carrier force departed to operate in the Aegean. TF88 was a mixed task force of Royal Navy and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ships that was stationed off

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. Its tasks were to achieve air superiority over the landing beaches, provide air support for the ground forces by suppressing enemy resistance and movement, destroying military infrastructure and artillery spotting for the naval bombardment. The TF 88 designation was later used for

Operation Argus Operation Argus was a series of United States low-yield, high-altitude nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted from 27 August to 9 September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean. The tests were performed by the Defense Nucle ...

, an ocean-based US nuclear test series in the late 1950s.

Task Force 88 order of battle

Task Force 88 was made up of two naval groups, 88.1 and 88.2 with VOC-01, a observation composite squadron with 12

Grumman F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second ha ...

nightfighters operating out of Corsica.

Notes

References

*{{cite book, first=Kev , last= Darling , title=Fleet Air Arm Carrier War: The History of British Naval Aviation, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=re7RAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100, year=2009, publisher=Pen and Sword, isbn=978-1-84415-903-1, pages=100–101 United States Navy task forces Operation Dragoon