Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:
O'Brien by the 22nd had finished repairs to the port side and departed for Pearl Harbor on the 20th; arrival at Pearl Harbor would be early in March.
US Carrier Task Forces:
- Task Force 16 (Enterprise)
raids Wake Island on February 24th and faces little opposition. Two
Japanese gunboats are sunk and installations on the island are damaged.
Halsey decides to keep TF 16 at sea and move toward Marcus Island
(which is nearer to Japan than Wake).
- Task Force 11 (Lexington) moved east after the attempted attack on Rabaul. Vice Admiral Brown requested that another carrier group join with TF 11 to try another attack
- Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained near Canton Island, but would soon be ordered to join with Task Force 11 to try again to attack Rabaul..
Japanese naval forces continued to gather at Rabaul for an attack to come soon on New Guniea. However, the raid on Wake Island and the significant loss of planes from the attack on the Lexington task force caused a postponement. The new plan was to land a Japanese invasion force on the eastern side of New Guinea on March 8th.
More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 159-161
- The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 32-38.
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