Arthur S . Carpender Arthur Schuyler Carpender ( 24 October 1884 – 10 January 1960 ) was an American admiral who commanded the Allied Naval Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II . A 1908 graduate of the United States Naval Academy , Carpender sailed around the world with the Great White Fleet . He commanded a landing force that went ashore at Puerto Cortes , Honduras in 1911 , and participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz as adjutant of the First Regiment of Bluejackets in 1914 . As commander of the destroyer in the action of 17 November 1917 during World War I , he engaged the U - boat " U - 58 " , and forced it to surrender . At the start of World War II Carpender was Commander Destroyers , Atlantic Fleet . In July 1942 , he arrived in the Southwest Pacific Area , where he became commander of Task Force 51 , the naval forces based in Western Australia . On September 1942 , he was appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Force , later renamed the Seventh Fleet , and Allied Naval Forces , Southwest Pacific Area , which he led through the Battle of Buna – Gona and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea . The following year he oversaw the fleet ' s operations during Operation Cartwheel . He commanded the Ninth Naval District from January 1944 until August 1945 , retiring in November 1946 with a tombstone promotion to the rank of admiral . Early life . A direct descendant of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven , one of the early settlers the New Netherland colony , Arthur Schuyler Carpender was born in New Brunswick , New Jersey , the sixth of seven children of John Neilson Carpender and his wife Anna Neilson née Kemp on 24 October 1884 . He was educated at St . Paul ' s School in Concord , New Hampshire , and Rutgers Preparatory School in New Brunswick . Carpender was appointed to the United States Naval Academy by Senator John Kean in 1904 . He graduated in 1908 . At the time midshipmen had to serve two years service at sea before being commissioned , so he reported for duty with the crew of the new battleship . This was one of the battleships of the Great White Fleet sent by President Theodore Roosevelt on an epic voyage around the world in 1907 . In 1909 , Carpender was transferred to the . He was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy on 6 June 1910 . Amidst the backdrop of the Banana Wars , he commanded a 16 - man landing force from the " Marietta " that was put ashore at Puerto Cortes , Honduras , on 14 January 1911 to help protect American citizens during a period of unrest ; after four days ashore Carpender ' s force returned to the ship . Leaving the " Marietta " in March 1911 , Carpender was involved with the fitting out of the new battleship . Like other naval officers of the day , he acquired a nickname , " Chips " ( a traditional nickname for a ship ' s carpenter in the days of wooden ships ) . He married Helena Bleecker Neilson , who was also from New Brunswick , on 30 April 1912 . Their marriage produced no children . World War I . Carpender participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz in April 1914 during the Mexican Revolution as adjutant of the First Regiment of Bluejackets , which was formed from sailors from " Florida " , " Utah " and " Arkansas " . Landing mid - morning on 21 April , the sailors remained under fire on the beachhead until early the next morning when they began their advance through Veracruz . After a series of street fights , they captured the town shortly before noon on 22 April . The town was cleared and defense lines established before it was handed over to United States Army troops on 30 April . On returning to the United States , Carpender was assigned to the Office of Naval Militia Affairs in Washington , D . C . In June 1916 , Carpender helped fit out and commission the new destroyer at the Bath Iron Works in Bath , Maine . He served as a member of its crew until March 1917 , when he assumed command of the destroyer . During the action of 17 November 1917 , he engaged the U - boat " U - 58 " , which was forced to the surface and compelled to surrender . For his part in the engagement , Carpender was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal . In December 1917 , Carpender became an aide to the Commander , Destroyer Flotillas Operating in European Waters . In August 1918 he reported to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company to help fit out the new destroyer , and assumed command of the ship when it was commissioned on 30 September 1918 . The ship sailed for Europe in October 1918 , escorting a convoy . Between the wars . Carpender returned to the United States in April 1919 , and became a Member of the Naval Examining Board , and Judge Advocate General of the General Court Martial at the Naval Training Station Great Lakes . In August 1921 he assumed command of the . He reported to the Naval Submarine Base New London for training in June 1922 , after which he was posted to the United States Asiatic Fleet as commander of Submarine Division 14 . In August 1923 Carpender returned to Washington , D . C . , where he served ashore for the next two years in the Bureau of Navigation , before becoming executive officer of the in December 1925 . He was assigned to the Receiving Ship , New York , from October 1926 until March 1927 , when he assumed command of the destroyer . Following the familiar pattern of shore duty alternating with sea duty , Carpender served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington , D . C . from 1928 until 1931 . This was followed by two years as executive officer of the light cruiser . He then attended the Naval War College at Newport , Rhode Island , after which he returned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations . In June 1936 , he became Chief of Staff of Destroyers , Scouting Force . He assumed command of the cruiser in August 1937 . In February 1938 he became Professor of Naval Science and Tactics of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps at Northwestern University at Evanston , Illinois . World War II . Carpender returned to sea duty in September 1939 , when he helped fit out a new destroyer squadron , Destroyer Squadron 32 . He commanded it until September 1940 , when he became Director of Officer Personnel at the Bureau of Navigation . In this capacity , he helped foster the careers of many other officers . In December 1941 he was promoted to rear admiral , as Commander Destroyers , Atlantic Fleet . In July 1942 , Carpender arrived in the Southwest Pacific Area , where he reported to Vice Admiral Herbert F . Leary , the commander of the Southwest Pacific Force and Allied Naval Forces , Southwest Pacific Area . Leary assigned Carpender to replace Captain Charles A . Lockwood in command of the naval forces based in Western Australia , known as Task Force 51 . The main U . S . naval forces based in the west were the submarines , which remained under Lockwood . As a submariner himself , Carpender took a great interest in submarine operations , and did not like what he saw . Carpender and Lockwood did not get along well , and soon came to detest one another . " I ' ve heard about how they run things in the Atlantic Fleet " , Lockwood wrote , " so often that I ' m ready to shoot any Atlantic Fleet sailor on sight — and they , after all , haven ' t done so much to write home about . " On 11 September 1942 , Carpender succeeded Leary as commander of both the Southwest Pacific Force and the Allied Naval Forces , Southwest Pacific Area . In the former role , he reported to the Commander in Chief , United States Fleet , Admiral Ernest J . King ; in the latter he was answerable directly to the Commander in Chief , Southwest Pacific Area , General Douglas MacArthur . The new post came with a promotion to the rank of vice admiral , but Carpender was not the most senior naval officer in the theater , as the Royal Australian Navy ′ s Admiral Sir Guy Royle and the Royal Netherlands Navy ′ s Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich were both senior to him . The Southwest Pacific Force was small ; when Carpender assumed command , it consisted of just five cruisers , eight destroyers and 20 submarines . Leary ' s reluctance to risk his ships , and his habit of communicating directly with King without going through MacArthur ' s General Headquarters ( GHQ ) in Brisbane , had aroused the ire of MacArthur . Carpender would soon find himself involved in similar conflicts . In October , Carpender rebuffed a request for the Allied Naval Forces to transport troops to Cape Nelson . Carpender refused as there was no adequate hydrographic survey of that part of the Papuan coast , making it dangerous to sail at night , and movements in the area by day were subject to attack from Japanese aircraft . A survey was conducted in October and lighters and luggers began making their way up the coast to Cape Nelson , escorted on occasion by Royal Australian Navy corvette s . In November 1942 , Carpender turned down a similar request from the Commander of Allied Land Forces , General Sir Thomas Blamey , for the Allied Naval Forces to escort some small transports to Oro Bay , as the Imperial Japanese Navy was doing during the Battle of Buna – Gona . However , Carpender subsequently relented somewhat and , starting in December , small ships escorted by corvettes carried out Operation Lilliput to deliver vital supplies to Oro Bay . During the Pacific Military Conference in March 1943 , MacArthur ' s chief of staff , Major General Richard K . Sutherland , spoke to Admiral King and expressed his dissatisfaction with Carpender . On 15 March 1943 , the Southwest Pacific Force , known colloquially as " MacArthur ’ s Navy " , became the Seventh Fleet . It remained very small . The Seventh Fleet acquired an amphibious force under the command of Rear Admiral Daniel E . Barbey . This eventually became the VII Amphibious Force , but for some time most of its strength was only on paper , or " en route " to Australia from the United States . Observing the capabilities of PT boat s during his evacuation from the Philippines , MacArthur encouraged their use , although initial results were disappointing . Carpender made effective use of them during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea on 25 March 1943 . Carpender oversaw the Seventh Fleet ' s operations during the early stages of Operation Cartwheel , MacArthur ' s advance towards the main Japanese base at Rabaul . A crisis arose during the Battle of Finschhafen , when Carpender became reluctant to reinforce the Australian position . As the situation at Finschhafen became increasingly precarious , Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring grew frustrated with Carpender ' s attitude , and appealed to Blamey , who in turn took up the matter with MacArthur . On 29 September 1943 , Carpender agreed to use high - speed transport s to send an additional battalion to Finschhafen , and the crisis passed . Carpender told Lieutenant General Frank Berryman that he " resented the implication that Uncle Sam ' s Navy was letting [ the Australians ] down at Finschhafen . " Carpender was replaced by Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid on 26 November 1943 . For his services in the Southwest Pacific , he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal by MacArthur , and the Legion of Merit by the Navy . He was also appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire on the recommendation of the Australian government , and a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange - Nassau by the Netherlands . He returned to the United States , where he commanded the Ninth Naval District from 3 January 1944 until 31 August 1945 , for which he was awarded a second Legion of Merit . Later life . Carpender ' s last naval assignment was as Coordinator of Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy from 28 May 1946 . He retired from the Navy on 1 November 1946 , with a tombstone promotion to the rank of admiral . He lived in retirement in Washington , D . C . until his death on 10 January 1960 , and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . His papers are held by the New Jersey Historical Society .