US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

422 Ampbibia?zs Cdtne To Conquer
contain units to meet aviation, hospital, and minor supply needs were pa~t
and parcel of the short hectic advance planning for WATCHTOWER.4’
Way back on 15 January 1942, when Rear Admiral Turner was in the
War Plans Division, he had initiated a plan calling for the establishment
of Advanced Base units to build and operate four Main Fleet bases
(LIONS) and 12 secondary bases (CUBS) .4’
Despite this advance planning, neither COMSOPAC nor COMPHIB-
FORSOPAC mentioned a prospective Advanced Naval Base at Guadal-
canaI-Tulagi in their WATCHTOWER Operation Orders. COMSOPAC’S
Op Order had no section on logistics. COMPHIBFORSOPAC Op Order
had a Logistic Section, but did not include any information about an Advanced
Base. The nearest mention was when COMPHIBFORSOPAC pro-
vided for a Naval Local Defense Force with a lieutenant commander of
the Coast Guard in command at a headquarters ashore. Lieutenant Com-
mander D. H. Dexter, USCG, actually did go ashore with the Marines, but
his command included only picket boats (landing craft), a harbor signal
station and a small landing craft repair crew.
COMSOPAC rectified the omission in his Operation Order on the day
after the initial landings by directing:
For construction and administration and operation of Advance Air Base
Guadalcanal-Tulagi, COMAMPHIBFORSOPAC initially in charge.”
This created the certainty that Rear Admiral Turner would step on the
toes of the Marines.
CUB One, containing the essential units from which an Advanced Base
could be built, left San Francisco on the day before Rear Admiral Turner
left Pearl Harbor. Its orders were to report to Commander South Pacific
and its destination was New Caledonia, but enroute the four ships carrying
CUB One were diverted to Espiritu Santo Island in the New Hebrides.
According to the Chief of Naval Operations’ directive:
CUB bases are to be equipped to care for the logistic support of a small Task
Group of Light Forces with no repair facilities on shore. Aviation repair,
operation and maintenance facilities for 105 planes are included. [Personnel
requirements are 138 officers and 3,200 men, of which 59 officers and 1,528
men are in the aviation service unit] .4s
“ CINCPAC Basic Supporting Plan for Advanced Air Bases Santa Cruz Island and Tulagi-
Guadalcanal, Ser 09910 of 8 Jul. 1942.
4*Ballantine, p. 57.
‘4COMSOPAC to COMPHIBFORSOPAC, 080826 Aug. 1942.
MCNO letter, Ser 018753 of 25 Aug. 1942, subj: LION and CUB bases.