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 ...
to focus on night carrier operations. Rear Admiral
Matthias B. Gardner
Matthias Bennett Gardner (28 November 1897 24 August 1975) was an American naval officer, Rear admiral (United States), rear admiral and later, Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral of the United States Navy. He served during the World War I ...
was appointed to command the division, which consisted of and .
On 21 July 1943, Admiral
Arthur W. Radford
Arthur William Radford (27 February 1896 – 17 August 1973) was an admiral and naval aviator of the United States Navy. In over 40 years of military service, Radford held a variety of positions including the vice chief of Naval Operations, ...
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 bakes and sometimes 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 history
Since grains ...
and
Howland Island
Howland Island () is an uninhabited coral island 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 unorganized, unincorporated terr ...
s as part of Task Force 11 under Rear Admiral
Willis A. Lee
Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr. (May 11, 1888 – August 25, 1945) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. Lee commanded the American ships during the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (November 14–15, 1 ...
. 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
Chester W. Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz (; February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in C ...
, Task Force 11 was joined by Task Force 15, with ''Lexington'', under Rear Admiral
Charles A. Pownall
Charles Alan Pownall (October 4, 1887 – July 19, 1975) was a Vice admiral in the United States Navy and Governor of Guam (May 30, 1946 – September 27, 1949). He was the third military Governor and first naval Governor of Guam following the U ...
dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that Dive (aviation), dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the Aerial bomb, bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to ...
s, and
torpedo planes
A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weigh ...
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 ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the Sida fallax, kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, sou ...
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 (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used ...
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
A plane guard is a warship (commonly a destroyer or frigate) or helicopter tasked to recover the aircrew of planes or helicopters which ditch or crash in the water during aircraft carrier flight operations.
Ships
For ships, the plane guard i ...
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
Modern United States Navy aircraft carrier air operations include the operation of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft on and around an aircraft carrier for performance of combat or noncombat missions. The flight operations are highly evolved, bas ...
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