After the battle, Spruance became chief of staff to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) and Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA). In Halsey's continued absence, Kinkaid became commander of Task Force 16, built around the carrier , although he was not an aviator, and his experience with carriers had been restricted to commanding their screens at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. In early July, Kinkaid was briefed by Nimitz about plans for a landing in the Solomon Islands, codenamed Operation Watchtower. For this operation, Kinkaid's Task Force 16 would be one of three carrier task forces under Fletcher's overall command. To protect his flagship, "Enterprise", Kinkaid had the battleship , heavy cruiser , antiaircraft cruiser , and five destroyers. The addition of the new battleship and its twenty &lt;a href="5%26quot%3B/38%20caliber%20gun"&gt;/38 caliber dual-purpose guns&lt;/a&gt; greatly strengthened Task Force 16's antiaircraft defenses.