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A task force or task group is a temporary organization formed to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage, and many organizations now create "task forces" for temporary activities that might have once been performed by ad hoc committees.
Naval
United States Navy
The concept of a task force was originally introduced by the United States Navy around the beginning of 1941, as a way to increase flexibility. At the time, ships were collected in divisions, which in turn were collected in numbered squadrons, which comprised a numbered fleet. A task force could be built out of ships from different divisions and squadrons, without having to go through the paperwork entailed by permanent reorganization, and easily dissolved when it was no longer useful. The task force concept worked very well, and by the end of World War II about 100 task forces had been created.
Each task force was assigned a two-digit number. The first digit was originally the number of the fleet, while the second historically differentiated between task forces from the same fleet. It was typically abbreviated, so references like TF 11 are commonly seen. In addition, a task force could be broken into several task groups, identified by decimal points, as in TG 11.2, and finally task units, as in TU 11.2.1. Individual ships are task elements, for example TE 11.2.1.2 would be the second ship in TU 11.2.1.
The US Navy still uses task forces, and may form a joint task force if the force includes units from other services. Note that there is no requirement for uniqueness; for instance, there was a TF 76 in World War II, and a different one in the Vietnam War.
Some Navy task forces in World War II:
Royal Navy
Earlier in the Second World War, the British Royal Navy had devised its own similar system of forces, which were assigned a letter, not a number. For example, the force stationed at Gibraltar was known as Force H, while the force stationed at Singapore in December 1941 was known as Force Z.Army
United States Army
In the United States Army, a task force is a battalion-sized organization formed by detaching a mechanized infantry or armor company from its parent unit and attaching a company of the other type in its stead. A company-sized unit with an armored or mechanized infantry unit cross-posted is a team. See Team Yankee.
In the British Army such formations are known as battlegroups.
Joint Task Force
US Department of Defense
A joint task force (JTF) is a joint force that is constituted and so designated by a JTF establishing authority. A JTF establishing authority may be the Secretary of Defense or the commander of a combatant command, subordinate unified command, or existing JTF. In most situations, the JTF establishing authority will be a combatant commander.JTFs are established on a geographical area or functional basis when the mission has a specific limited objective and does not require overall centralized control of logistics.
Fiction
Task Force X
See also
Some task forces have a creative name, e.g. after their commander, such as Dunsterforce
External Links
- (task forces in Star Trek)
"Task force"