Pacific Ocean Areas

Pacific Ocean Areas was a major

The vast majority of Allied forces in the theatre were from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. However units and/or personnel from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Fiji and other countries also saw active service.

Formation and composition

On 24 March 1942, the newly formed British and U.S. Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. On 30 March the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) divided the Pacific theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), and the Southeast Pacific Area (which was never activated).^[1][2][3] Details and transition, including whether Nimitz "appointed" or "nominated" the commander of the South Pacific Area, were worked out between 3 April and formal assumption of the overall Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas by Nimitz on 8 May 1942.^[4][5]

The JCS designated Admiral Nimitz as Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, with operational control over all units (air, land, and sea) in that area. The theater included most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, but mainland Asia was excluded from the POA, as were the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands East Indies, the Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago) and the western part of the Solomon Islands. U.S. strategic bomber forces in the theatre were under the direct control of the JCS. All land forces in Alaska and Canada remained under the control of the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command.

The JCS subdivided the Pacific Ocean Areas into the North, Central and

General

• Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley (19 June–18 October 1942)
• Vice Adm./Adm.
  William Halsey, Jr.
  (18 October 1942 – 15 June 1944)
• Vice Adm. John H. Newton (15 June 1944 – 13 March 1945)
• Vice Admiral William L. Calhoun (13 March–2 September 1945)

North Pacific Area

• Rear Adm. Robert A. Theobald (17 May 1942 – 4 January 1943)
• Rear Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid (4 January–11 October 1943)
• Vice Adm. Frank J. Fletcher (11 October 1943 – 2 September 1945)

Forces

During the 1942

Activation of Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (AAFPOA) at Hickam Field followed on 1 August 1944. The Seventh Air Force, formerly the senior command, was made "mobile and tactichi" on 15 August by the reassignment of 112 units of various types to AAFPOA. The VII Air Force Service Command, its former administrative functions having been assumed by Breene as AAFPOA deputy commander for administration, was transferred to ASC/AAFPOA, where it lost its identity as an operating agency. The Seventh Air Force was left only VII Bomber Command and VII Fighter Command. The other AAFPOA operating forces were XXI Bomber Command and the Hawaiian Air Defense Wing(?) (probable source misprint for 7th Fighter Wing). In preparation for the support of VHB units, the Hawaiian Air Depot was expanded and assigned directly to AAFPOA. For the forward or combat area, plans were laid for a Guam Air Depot (later, Harmon Air Force Base), which was established in November.

Allied air forces included units of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

See also

• United States Navy in World War II
• US Naval Advance Bases

Notes

References

• Cressman, Robert J. (1999). "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II". Contemporary History Branch, Naval Historical Center (now Naval History & Heritage Command). Retrieved 24 May 2013.
• Morton, Louis (2000). The War in the Pacific—Strategy and Command: The First Two Years. United States Army In World War II. Washington, D. C.: Center Of Military History, United States Army.
  LCCN 61-60001
  .
• Nimitz, Chester W., Admiral (USN); Steele, James M., Captain (USN) (1942). 'Gray Book' — War Plans and Files of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet; Running Estimate and Summary maintained by Captain James M. Steele, USN, CINCPAC staff at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, covering the period 7 December 1941–31 August 1942 (PDF). Vol. 1 of 8 volumes. Operational Archives, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington D.C. Retrieved 24 May 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Potter, E.B. (1976). Nimitz. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press.
  LCCN 76-1056
  .
• Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942
  . New York: W. W. Norton.
• ——— (2015).
  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944
  . New York: W. W. Norton.
• ——— (2020). Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Williams, Mary H. (1960). Chronology 1941—1945. United States Army In World War II. Washington, DC: Center Of Military History, United States Army.
  LCCN 59-60002
  .
• Willmott, H. P. (1983). The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies February to June 1942. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
  ISBN 0-87021-535-3
  .

• Central Pacific 1941–1943. The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 72-4. Archived from the original on 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
• Strategy and Command: The First Two Years
• The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II, Appendix I