Nonetheless, to protect shipping lanes and vital interests, King sent to the South Pacific fleet carriers USS "Lexington" in January 1942 and USS "Yorktown" the following month. The month after that, in early March, he presented his strategy to President Roosevelt and the Joint Chiefs to hold Hawaii, support Australia, and move northward from the Allied base in New Hebrides against the Japanese. He was limited, however, to the use only of the current manpower commitments to the Pacific, then at 41,000 Army troops and 15,000 Marines. It is a reflection of Admiral King's aggressiveness, persistence, and effectiveness that, despite the "Europe First" priorities, almost all of the US troops sent overseas during the first six months of the war went to the Pacific and that the first American offensive of the war was at Guadalcanal rather than in North Africa.