Arthur S. Carpender

Who was Arthur S. Carpender?

Arthur Schuyler Carpender 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 USS Fanning 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.