The sixth (and final) incarnation of the 3rd Fleet was formed on 14 July 1942 immediately after the disastrous Battle of Midway as an aircraft carrier task force modeled after similar units in the United States Navy. It was centered on the new aircraft carriers and . It played an important role during the Pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Santa Cruz, in which the American aircraft carrier was sunk, but at the cost of many of the best air crews in the Japanese Navy.