The Southeast Pacific Area was one of the designated area commands created by the Combined Chiefs of Staff in the Pacific region during World War II. It was responsible to the Joint Chiefs of Staff via the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Navy (COMINCH), Admiral Ernest King. Rear Admiral Abel T. Bidwell, former commander of Cruiser Division Three, commanded the Southeast Pacific Area during the first months of the war. [1]
On 24 March 1942, the newly formed British and Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. Six days later the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) divided the Pacific theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), and the Southeast Pacific Area.
The Southeast Pacific Force, SoEastPac, was a small force of cruisers and destroyers based at Balboa, Panama which formed the main force operating in the Southeast Pacific Area. The Southeast Pacific Force was formed by a directive of 28 August 1941 to Admiral Husband Kimmel:
CINCPAC CONSTITUTE THE SOUTHEAST PACIFIC FORCE CONSISTING OF TWO 7,500-TON LIGHT CRUISERS AND DISPATCH IT TO BALBOA. FOR TASK PURPOSES THIS FORCE WILL OPERATE DIRECTLY UNDER CNO AFTER ENTERING THE SOUTHEAST PACIFIC SUB AREA AS DEFINED IN WPL 46 PAR. 3222 EXCEPT WESTERN LIMIT IS LONGITUDE 100 WEST. WITHIN THE PACIFIC SECTOR OF THE PANAMA NAVAL COASTAL FRONTIER AND WITHIN THE SOUTHEAST PACIFIC SUB AREA THE COMMANDER PANAMA NAVAL COASTAL FRONTIER AND COMMANDER SOUTHEAST PACIFIC FORCE WILL IN COOPERATION AND ACTING UNDER THE STRATEGIC DIRECTION OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS EXECUTE THE FOLLOWING TASK: DESTROY SURFACE RAIDERS WHICH ATTACK OR THREATEN UNITED STATES FLAG SHIPPING. [2]
Amongst ships assigned to the Southeast Pacific Force were the light cruisers USS Concord, USS Trenton, USS Detroit, and the destroyers USS Warrington and USS McDougal.
The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II dates the establishment of the Southeast Pacific Area to 8 December 1941. [3]
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at North Island, San Diego Bay on the Mainland.
The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Originally formed as United States Atlantic Fleet (USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America since the early 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over most of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Central and South America.
Jesse Barrett "Oley" Oldendorf was an admiral in the United States Navy, famous for defeating a Japanese force in the Battle of Leyte Gulf during World War II. He also served as commander of the American naval forces during the early phase of the Battle of the Caribbean. In early 1942, a secret group of senior Navy officers empaneled by President Franklin D. Roosevelt assessed him as one of the 40 most competent of the 120 flag officers in the Navy.
A destroyer squadron is a naval squadron or flotilla usually consisting of destroyers rather than other types of vessel. In some navies other vessels, such as frigates, may be included. In English the word "squadron" tends to be used for larger and "flotilla" for smaller vessels; both may be used for destroyer units. Similar formations are used in non-English-speaking countries, e.g., the "escadrille"—which would translate directly as "squadron"—in France.
Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander, South Pacific Area during World War II.
Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was an admiral in the United States Navy, known for his service during World War II. He built a reputation as a "fighting admiral" in the aircraft carrier battles of 1942 and commanded the Allied forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. He was Commander Allied Naval Forces and the Seventh Fleet under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific Area, where he conducted numerous amphibious operations, and commanded an Allied fleet during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of World War II and the last naval battle between battleships in history.
Pacific Ocean Areas was a major Allied military command in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands during the Pacific War, and one of three United States commands in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz of the U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, headed the command throughout its existence.
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Takeo Takagi was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
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Sea Frontiers were several, now disestablished, commands of the United States Navy existing from 1 July 1941 during World War II as areas of defense against enemy vessels, especially submarines, along the American coasts. Sea Frontiers generally started at the shore of the United States and extended outwards into the sea for a nominal distance of two hundred miles.
The Philippine Sea Frontier (PHILSEAFRON) was a United States Navy Sea Frontier active in 1941, and reformed in 1944.
John Wills Greenslade was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He enjoyed a significant military career, participating in several conflicts and distinguished himself during World War I as Commanding officer, USS Housatonic and during World War II as Commander, Western Sea Frontier and Commandant, Twelfth Naval district with headquarters at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Earl Everett Stone was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. He is most noted for being the first director of the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency.
Rear Admiral Herbert James Ray was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A 1914 graduate of the Naval Academy, he served on the submarines USS H-2 and N-3 during World War I. In March 1942, as Chief of Staff and Aide to the Commandant of the Sixteenth Naval District, Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, he participated in General Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines. In Australia, he served with MacArthur's General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area staff. In September 1943, he became Captain of the battleship USS Maryland, which he commanded in the Battle of Tarawa, Battle of Kwajalein, Battle of Saipan and the Battle of Peleliu. In October 1944, he participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait, in which Maryland joined the other battleships in engaging the Japanese battleships Fusō and Yamashiro and their escorts. Ray left Maryland in December 1944, and was promoted to Commodore and appointed deputy director of the Naval Division of the US Control Group Council for Germany. After VE Day, he became the Junior United States Member of the Tripartite Naval Commission in Berlin. He retired from the Navy on 30 June 1949, and received a tombstone promotion to rear admiral due to his combat decorations.
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Harold Cecil Train was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served as the Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence between 1942 and 1943 and as commanding officer of the battleship USS Arizona. He was father of Admiral Harry D. Train II and grandfather of Rear Admiral Elizabeth L. Train.
John Franklin Shafroth Jr. was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He distinguished himself as Commander of destroyer USS Terry during World War I and received the Navy Cross, the United States Navy second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat.
