US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

296 Amphibians Came To Conquer
The 2nd Marine Regiment (Reinforced) (Colonel John M. Arthur,
USMC, Commanding) from the Second Marine Division was in the transports
loaded at San Diego, and escorted to the rendezvous, by Task Force 18,
centered on the carrier Wa~p (CV-7 ) (Captain Forrest Sherman). The
Wa~~, in company with the brand new battleship North Carolina (BB-55)
(Captain George H. Fort) had departed Norfolk, Virginia, for transfer
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Fleet two days prior to the sinking of the
Yorktown (CV-5 ) at Midway (5 June 1942), It had been anticipated that
this transfer would mean a highly desirable increase in carrier air power in
the Pacific Ocean areas, but actually it only made good a severe loss. Departure
of Task Force 18 from San Diego was on 1 July 1942.
Every responsible commander in the Navy thought highly of the Marines.
Commander Task Force 18, Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, thought so highly
of them that he requested Colonel Arthur to submit a plan for the capture
of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area, with nothing more than the ground forces
under his command plus one Marine raider battalion embarked in four
destroyer transports.3’ Since the 2nd Marine Regiment had been aboard the
transports since I June, and were going to be aboard more than another
month, they probably would have been quite willing to undertake this con-
siderable combat task just to get off the transports.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion was in Samoa but was to be transported
to Noumea by the Heywood and then picked up by the four fast destroyer
transports in Transport Division 12 currently en route with Task Force 11
from Pearl Harbor.
The First Marine Division (Reinforced) included the lst, 5th, and 7th
Marine Regiments, but only the 1st and 5th were in the transports coming up
from Wellington. The 7th Regiment was in Samoa to defend that island, and
was not sprung until 20 August 1942.
The 3rd Defense Battalion (Colonel Robert H. Pepper, USMC) in the
Zeifin (AP-9) (Captain Pat Buchanan) and Betelgetise (AK-28) (Com-
mander Harry D. Power) was the last Marine unit of the 19,000 Marines
the Navy was scheduled to assemble. This essential event did not take place
until 3 August, long days after the dress rehearsal had been completed.
These two ships had sailed from San Diego on 8 July, seven days later than
Task Force 18 which was taking a far more direct Great Circle route for
the rendezvous. They sailed from Pearl Harbor in a six-ship convoy on
21 July, six days after Task Force 16 departed for the rendezvous, and
13 days later than Task Force 11.
31uss WUJp War Diary, 6 Jul. 1942.