Promoted to captain, Henderson fitted out and commanded the new carrier which was commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard in Camden, New Jersey in February 1943. Following shakedown in the Caribbean, she was reclassified CVL-23 on July 15, 1943. "Princeton" participated in the First and Second Rabaul Air Strikes, on November 5 and 11, 1943, severely damaging many enemy combatant ships in Rabaul harbor. By January 1944 Henderson was serving as Commander Aircraft, Munda and Commander Fleet Air Wing One. Here he developed a successful system of combined air and surface operations that annihilated a Japanese barge fleet in the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Archipelago, and severely damaged numerous shore installations. He also initiated the rescue of many downed aircraft crews, often in enemy waters and under heavy fire from enemy shore batteries.