Prior to December 7, Wake Island received reinforcements, including aircraft for defense. At the time of Pearl Harbor, Wake Island was under the command of Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham, USN and included a Marine Corps Defense Battalion, Commanded by Major James Devereux. A day after Pearl Harbor reports were received from Wake Island of a Japanese bombardment and subsequent invasion attempt. Admiral Kimmel expected Wake Island to hold out in the short run and on December 10, CinC PAC drafted an Operations Order for the relief of Wake. On December 15, Admiral Kimmel placed RAdm Fletcher in command of Task Force (TF) 14 for the relief of Wake which consisted of the fleet carrier , the fleet oiler , the seaplane tender , three heavy cruisers (, , ), and eight destroyers (, , , , , , , ). RAdm Fletcher commanded Task Force 14 from the cruiser "Astoria" while RAdm Aubrey Fitch sailed aboard "Saratoga". Unfortunate events caused a delay in departure of TF 14 as well as a delay in D-Day, the date of the actual relief effort. TF 14 traveled West towards Wake Island at less than 13 knots, as fast as the slowest ship could travel, with plans to arrive at Wake Island on December 24 (D-Day). During the voyage, RAdm Fletcher had been instructed to fuel prior to arriving at Wake Island. Underway refueling was still a work in progress which took time and required calm sea conditions.