The aircraft carrier is called the Fighting Lady throughout, a wartime pseudonym for the USS Yorktown, and this Navy-produced film follows her crew through the Pacific campaigns of 1943 and 1944. Dauntless dive bombers, TBF Avengers, and Hellcat fighters launch from her deck for the August 30, 1943 strike on Japanese-held Marcus Island, and the film tracks that mission from pre-flight preparation through debriefing. Maps chart the fleet's advance through Kwajalein, the Marshall Islands, Truk, and the Caroline Islands, where Mitsubishi Zero fighters rise to meet the assault force before the squadron pulls back to the Marshalls for repairs and rest. Footage shows a Japanese reconnaissance plane shot down en route to battle, sailors at church services the night before an assault, and dogfights and evasive ship maneuvers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The film closes with U.S. casualties buried at sea, keeping its focus on the routines and duties of the men who kept the carrier fighting rather than on strategy handed down from above.