I reckon it is a Kiwi carrier
NZ had a brigade on New Caledonia in the mid war, and another on Fiji. They took their carrier platoons there including LP2 NZ and English 3" Mortar carriers. These were all returned to NZ.
After the soul searching following the simultaneous Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour, Hong Kong and Malaya, NZ agreed to leave the 2 NZ Division in North Africa while USA agreed to send troops to NZ to help defend NZ, and also complete their training here.
1 Div USMC had only 6 weeks in NZ before racing to take Guadalcanal in the Solomons before the Japanese completed the new airfield there. 2 Div USMC landed there too, and it took six months to finally subdue the Japanese who were reinforced by sea almost nightly!
The two NZ brigades were withdrawn to NZ and formed the 3 NZ Div who then moved to Guadalcanal and trained in amphibious warfare. Three brigade level actions followed with the capture of Japanese held Vella Lavella, Mono Island and Green Islands.
By this time the carriers had been left on Guadalcanal and the carrier platoons worked on foot.
The garrisons on Fiji and New Caledonia were replaced by US troops.
(We have just commemorated the 2 Marine Div practice landings at Mahia NZ in 1943 prior to the Tarawa landings, so I did a lot of research on USMC and NZ ops in the Pacific!)
Rob
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