Task Force 58 under Admiral Marc Mitscher began the campaign against Okinawa with strikes on Kyushu, Japan, beginning on 18 March. The sorties would last four days and destroy over 482 Japanese aircraft on the ground. The USS Yorktown was part of Mitscher's powerful task force, but soon the Japanese would release their own unique power in the shape of Tokko (special) attacks that we have come to know as kamikazes.
More on Okinawa next week!