Carrier Division Eleven was a seagoing division (2-4 large ships) of the United States Navy. It was established in August 1944 at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

to focus on night carrier operations. Rear Admiral Matthias B. Gardner was appointed to command the division, which consisted of and . On 21 July 1943, Admiral Arthur W. Radford was given command of Carrier Division Eleven, which consisted of the new ''Essex''-class carrier as well as the light carriers USS ''Independence'' and . These carriers remained at Pearl Harbor through August, training and refining their operations. Radford got his first operational experience on 1 September 1943, covering a foray to

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

and

Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...

s as part of Task Force 11 under Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee. Radford commanded ''Princeton'', and four destroyers to act as a covering force for Lee's Marines, who built an airfield on the islands. After this successful operation, and at the direction of

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Chester W. Nimitz, Task Force 11 was joined by Task Force 15, with ''Lexington'', under Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall. The two task forces then steamed for

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Kiribati, Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''The World ...

to strike it. On the night of 17 September, the carriers launched six strikes of

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s, and torpedo planes to work over the Japanese defenses. Next, Radford and his carriers took part in an air attack and cruiser bombardment of

Wake Island Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...

on 5 to 6 October 1943. He shifted his flag to ''Lexington'' for the operation, which took two days. Though the effects on Japanese positions were not known, Radford and other leaders considered the operations useful for readying troops for the many major battles to come in the Central Pacific. The ''Saratoga'' departed San Francisco two days later and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 24 September 1944. The ship was assigned to Carrier Division 11 which was tasked to train

night fighter A night fighter (later known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor post-Second World War) is a largely historical term for a fighter aircraft, fighter or interceptor aircraft adapted or designed for effective use at night, during pe ...

pilots and to develop night tactics and doctrine. Rear Admiral Matthias Gardner made ''Saratoga'' his flagship on 10 October. Four days later, the ship was accidentally rammed by her plane guard destroyer , gashing the port side of her hull. Operations were immediately cancelled and she returned to port for temporary repairs. Permanent repairs were made during a brief refit during the first week of November. Carrier qualification and other training continued through most of January 1945.

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , first=Norman , last=Polmar , title=Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, Volume II: 1946-2006 , year=2008 , isbn=978-1574886658 , page=449 Aircraft carrier divisions of the United States Navy