Arthur S. Carpender

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Arthur Schuyler Carpender
Seventh Fleet
Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet
Destroyer Squadron 31
Destroyer Squadron 32
USS Northampton
USS Macdonough
Submarine Division 14
USS Maddox
USS Radford
USS Fanning
Battles/warsMexican Revolution

World War I

World War II

Awards
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Australia)
Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau
(Netherlands)

Arthur Schuyler Carpender (24 October 1884 – 10 January 1960) was an American

Southwest Pacific Area during World War II
.

A 1908 graduate of the

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,

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

St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Rutgers Preparatory School in New Brunswick.[1][3]

Carpender was appointed to the

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.[4]

Leaving the Marietta in March 1911, Carpender was involved with the fitting out of the new battleship USS Utah.[3] 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).[5] He married Helena Bleecker Neilson, who was also from New Brunswick, on 30 April 1912. Their marriage produced no children.[1]

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,[3] which was formed from sailors from Florida, Utah and Arkansas.[6] 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.[6] The town was cleared and defense lines established before it was handed over to United States Army troops on 30 April.[6] On returning to the United States, Carpender was assigned to the Office of Naval Militia Affairs in Washington, D.C.[3]

In June 1916, Carpender helped fit out and commission the new destroyer USS Davis 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 USS Fanning.[3] During the action of 17 November 1917, he engaged the U-boat U-58, which was forced to the surface and compelled to surrender.[7] For his part in the engagement, Carpender was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.[3]

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 USS Radford, and assumed command of the ship when it was commissioned on 30 September 1918.[3] The ship sailed for Europe in October 1918, escorting a convoy.[8]

Between the wars

Lieutenant Commander Arthur S. Carpender, USN in 1928.

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 USS Maddox. 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.[9]

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 USS Pittsburgh 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 USS Macdonough.[9]

Following the familiar pattern of shore duty alternating with sea duty, Carpender served in the Office of the

Scouting Force. He assumed command of the cruiser USS Northampton 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.[9]

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.

rear admiral, as Commander Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet.[10]

In July 1942, Carpender arrived in the

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."[11]

On 11 September 1942, Carpender succeeded Leary as commander of both the Southwest Pacific Force and the Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area.

Conrad Helfrich were both senior to him.[12] The Southwest Pacific Force was small; when Carpender assumed command, it consisted of just five cruisers, eight destroyers and 20 submarines.[5]

A submarine, long, sleek and painted grey at anchor. It flies a red and white striped ensign.
USS Bowfin, one of the submarines based in Western Australia

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.[13] 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 corvettes.[5][14]

In November 1942, Carpender turned down a similar request from the Commander of Allied Land Forces,

Major General Richard K. Sutherland, spoke to Admiral King and expressed his dissatisfaction with Carpender.[17]

On 15 March 1943, the Southwest Pacific Force, known colloquially as "MacArthur’s Navy", 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.[19] Observing the capabilities of PT boats during his evacuation from the Philippines, MacArthur encouraged their use, although initial results were disappointing.[20] Carpender made effective use of them during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea on 25 March 1943.[21]

Silhouette of a boat moving at speed across the water.
A PT boat patrols off New Guinea, 1943

Carpender oversaw the Seventh Fleet's operations during the early stages of

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 transports 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."[22]

Carpender was replaced by Admiral

Ninth Naval District from 3 January 1944 until 31 August 1945, for which he was awarded a second Legion of Merit.[23]

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,[23] with a tombstone promotion to the rank of admiral.[10] He lived in retirement in Washington, D.C. until his death on 10 January 1960,[10][23] and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[24] His papers are held by the New Jersey Historical Society.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Conover, David Kipp. "Descendants of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven – Person Page 418". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  2. ^ Cohen, Joyce (3 March 2002). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Gerritsen Beach; Secluded Peninsula in South Brooklyn". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Navy Biographies Section 1951, p. 1
  4. Naval History & Heritage Command
    . Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Morison 1950, p. 32
  6. ^ a b c "Vera Cruz Wonders As Our Troops Land" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 May 1914. p. 1–2. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Tells Whole Story of Sinking U-Boat". The New York Times. 30 December 1917. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  8. ^ "Radford". U.S. Navy. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d Navy Biographies Section 1951, p. 2
  10. ^ a b c Ancell & Miller 1996, pp. 510–511
  11. ^ Blair 1975, pp. 283–284
  12. ^ Wheeler 1994, pp. 346–349
  13. ^ James 1975, p. 226
  14. ^ James 1975, pp. 231–232
  15. ^ James 1975, pp. 239–242
  16. ^ Morison 1950, pp. 46–47
  17. ^ Buell 1980, pp. 319–320
  18. ^ James 1975, pp. 226, 311
  19. ^ Morison 1950, pp. 130–131
  20. ^ Morison 1950, pp. 47–49
  21. ^ Morison 1950, pp. 60–62
  22. ^ Horner 1982, pp. 299–301
  23. ^ a b c Navy Biographies Section 1951, p. 3
  24. ^ "Arthur Schuyler Carpender, Admiral, United States Navy". Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  25. Naval History & Heritage Command
    . Retrieved 12 January 2012.

References
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