Question: How many ships were in the task force that Francis McLean became famous for defendin New Ireland against?

Context paragraphs:
Operation Highjump: Operation Highjump, officially titled "The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947", was a United States Navy operation organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN (Ret), Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by Rear Admiral Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68.  Operation Highjump commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February 1947.  Task Force 68 included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and 33 aircraft.  Operation Highjump's primary mission was to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV.

Task Force on New Americans: Created in June 2006 by President of the United States George W. Bush, the Task Force on New Americans is an interagency initiative to help immigrants learn English, embrace the common core of American civic culture, and fully become American.  Established within the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Michael Chertoff serves as Chair of the Task Force.  Membership includes representatives from 12 Cabinet-level departments and a technical working committee of eight additional federal agencies.  Alfonso Aguilar, Chief of the Office of Citizenship at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), serves as Chair of the Task Force’s technical committee.  Since it was established more than three years ago, the Task Force has worked to develop interagency initiatives to help immigrants settle in their new country and maximize the use of federal resources in promoting integration.  By providing technical resources to communities and organizations, encouraging volunteerism, developing effective training methods, conducting targeted research efforts, and providing recommendations to the President, the Task Force has sought to encourage successful immigrant assimilation in a comprehensive manner.

Carrier battle group: A carrier battle group (CVBG) consists of an aircraft carrier (designated CV) and its large number of escorts, together defining the group.  The first naval task forces built around carriers appeared just prior to and during World War II.  The Imperial Japanese Navy, IJN, was the first to assemble a large number of carriers into a single task force, known as Kido Butai.  This task force was used with devastating effect in the Imperial Japanese Navy's Attack on Pearl Harbor.  Kido Butai operated as the IJN's main carrier battle group until four of its carriers were sunk at the Battle of Midway.  In contrast, the United States Navy deployed its large carriers in separate formations, with each carrier assigned its own cruiser and destroyer escorts.  These single-carrier formations would often be paired or grouped together for certain assignments, most notably the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway.  By 1943, however, large numbers of fleet and light carriers became available, which required larger formations of three or four carriers.  These groups eventually formed the Fast Carrier Task Force, which became the primary battle unit of the U.S. Fifth and Third Fleets.

Task Force Shield: Task Force Shield was set up by the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003 to provide security for Iraq's critical oil infrastructure.  The task force was originally composed of a small team of American military personnel, contractors from the UK-based firm Erinys International, and Iraqis hired, trained and supervised by Erinys.  The Iraqi force trained by Erinys was called the Oil Protection Force (OPF).  After the Coalition Provisional Authority transferred control of Iraq to the Interim Government, the OPF became a subordinate element of Iraq's Ministry of Oil.  The Ministry of Oil did not renew the Erinys contract.  Task Force Shield was disbanded in 2005.  In April 2006, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction published a report on the activities of Task Force Shield.  The report determined that Task Force Shield was ultimately unsuccessful and found that there were indications of potential fraud.

Francis McLean (British army officer): Francis McLean (c.1717 – 4 May 1781) was a British army officer, one of two sons of Captain William Maclean and Anne Kinloch.  He became famous for defending New Ireland (Maine) against the Penobscot Expedition during the American Revolution.  The defeat of the Expedition was a noted British victory of the American Revolution.  He was in command of the 74th Regiment of (Highland) Foot and 82nd Regiment of Foot (1778).  He died 4 May 1781 at Halifax, Nova Scotia and is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).  McLean never married.

House October Surprise Task Force: The House October Surprise Task Force (formally "Task Force of the Committee on Foreign Affairs to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of Americans as Hostages by Iran in 1980") was a task force instituted by the United States House of Representatives in 1992 to examine the October Surprise allegations: that during the 1980 United States presidential election the Reagan campaign had sought to negotiate a solution to the Iran hostage crisis in competition to the US government of Jimmy Carter, in order to prevent the successful resolution of the crisis giving Carter an electoral boost.  Following the publication of the report in January 1993, Task Force chairman Rep. Lee H. Hamilton published an editorial in "The New York Times" summarising the Task Force conclusion that "there was virtually no credible evidence to support the accusations."

Stephen J. Townsend: Stephen J. Townsend is a United States Army officer who currently commands Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve and the XVIII Airborne Corps.  Townsend served with the 82nd Airborne Division, the 7th Infantry Division, the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 78th Infantry Division, and the 10th Mountain Division.  He fought in Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Just Cause, and Operation Uphold Democracy.  With the 10th Mountain Division, he served in the War in Afghanistan, leading a task force in Operation Anaconda.  Townsend became commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, leading it in the Battle of Baqubah in the Iraq War.  Townsend became commander of the 10th Mountain Division in the War in Afghanistan.  In May 2015 he became commander of XVIII Airborne Corps, and in late August 2016 took command of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve.

Task Force 61: Task Force 61 (CTF-61) is a task force of the United States Navy that today denotes what used to be designated the Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group (MARG) of the United States Sixth Fleet.  It is composed of approximately three Amphibious assault ships, but in 2008 is designated the Expeditionary Strike Group that includes their embarked landing craft.  From these ships, United States Marine Corps ground forces can move ashore by sea and air in amphibious assault or emergency evacuation missions.  Once ashore, the ships of Task Force 61 are able to logistically support the ground forces, until the objective of the landing has been accomplished.

Penobscot Expedition: The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval task force mounted during the Revolutionary War by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.  The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 smaller support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779 for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying a ground expeditionary force of more than 1,000 colonial Marines and militiamen.  Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.  The Expedition's goal was to reclaim control of what is now mid-coast Maine from the British who had seized it a month earlier and renamed it New Ireland.  It was the largest American naval expedition of the war.  The fighting took place both on land and at sea in and around the mouth of the Penobscot and Bagaduce Rivers at what is today Castine, Maine over a period of three weeks in July and August of 1779.  One of its greatest victories of the war for the British, the Expedition was also the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor 162 years later in 1941.

Task Force on Childhood Obesity: The Childhood Obesity Task Force is a United States Government task force charged with reducing childhood obesity in the United States.  It was founded on February 9, 2010 by the Obama Administration through a Presidential Memorandum, announcing the establishment of a Task Force on Childhood Obesity.  The Task Force aims to develop a plan to reduce childhood obesity.  In the announcement, President Barack Obama highlighted the statistics on childhood obesity in the United States and outlined the steps that this new task force would be taking to end childhood obesity.  Section 1 of the Memorandum states:

Supporting paragraphs: Francis McLean (British army officer) Penobscot Expedition
Answer: 44-ship