Vice Admiral Alfred Montgomery was named as Commander, First Task Fleet, in an air station report of July 1947, with an inspection visit by a group of senior officers. The old cruiser Salt Lake City was sunkas an atomic bomb test target during First Task Fleet maneuvers in May 1948.[1]USS Salisbury Sound became the flagship of Vice Admiral Gerald Bogan (Commander First Task Fleet) on 25 March 1949. USS Curtiss served as flagship for Commander First Fleet early in 1949 for three weeks of amphibious operations in Alaskan waters to evaluate cold weather equipment. USS Helena served as flagship for Commander, First Fleet, from January 1960 to March 1963. USS Providence served as flagship in San Diego from 1969 until April 1972, except for yard overhaul in 1970 when USS Chicago assumed the role.[2]
On 17 November 2020, Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite announced the intention to create a new numbered fleet for the Indian Ocean to be called First Fleet. SECNAV Braithwaite speculated that the new fleet could be headquartered in Singapore or Western Australia.[3][4]
Commander Service Squadron, South Pacific Force Rear Admiral Paul Hendren
Chief of Staff Captain F. Close
The first ten squadrons and commanders are those of the U.S. Navy type commands in the Pacific Fleet active at the time.
Commanders
The Navy website says, regarding this list of commanders, that "..This position was originally titled Commander, Central Pacific Force. On 26 April 1944 it was renamed Commander, Fifth Fleet. It then became Commander, First Task Fleet on 1 January 1947. It was subsequently renamed First Fleet on 11 February 1950. The Command was combined with ASW Forces Pacific and became Third Fleet as of 1 February 1973."[6]
Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (5 August 1943 – 8 November 1945) (Central Pacific Force and Fifth Fleet)
Admiral John H. Towers (8 November 1945 – 18 January 1946) (Fifth Fleet)