He commanded a landing force that went ashore at Puerto Cortes, Honduras in 1911, and participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz as adjutant of the First Regiment of Bluejackets in 1914.

As commander of the destroyer USS Fanning in the action of 17 November 1917 during World War I, he engaged the U-boat U-58, and forced it to surrender.

He commanded the Ninth Naval District from January 1944 until August 1945, retiring in November 1946 with a tombstone promotion to the rank of admiral.

At the time of his graduation from the Naval Academy, midshipmen had to serve two years service at sea before being commissioned, so he reported for duty with the crew of the new battleship USS Minnesota.

[5] Carpender participated in the United States occupation of Veracruz in April 1914 during the Mexican Revolution as adjutant of the First Regiment of Bluejackets,[3] which was formed from sailors from Florida, Utah and Arkansas.

[6] Landing mid-morning on 21 April, the sailors remained under fire on the beachhead until early the next morning when they began their advance through Veracruz.

In August 1918 he reported to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company to help fit out the new destroyer USS Radford, and assumed command of the ship when it was commissioned on 30 September 1918.

[9] In August 1923 Carpender returned to Washington, D.C., where he served ashore for the next two years in the Bureau of Navigation, before becoming executive officer of the USS Pittsburgh in December 1925.

[13] The Southwest Pacific Force was small; when Carpender assumed command, it consisted of just five cruisers, eight destroyers and 20 submarines.

Carpender refused as there was no adequate hydrographic survey of that part of the Papuan coast, making it dangerous to sail at night, and movements in the area by day were subject to attack from Japanese aircraft.

A survey was conducted in October and lighters and luggers began making their way up the coast to Cape Nelson, escorted on occasion by Royal Australian Navy corvettes.

[16] However, Carpender subsequently relented somewhat and, starting in December, small ships escorted by corvettes carried out Operation Lilliput to deliver vital supplies to Oro Bay.

[17] During the Pacific Military Conference in March 1943, MacArthur's chief of staff, Major General Richard K. Sutherland, spoke to Admiral King and expressed his dissatisfaction with Carpender.

This eventually became the VII Amphibious Force, but for some time most of its strength was only on paper, or en route to Australia from the United States.

As the situation at Finschhafen became increasingly precarious, Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring grew frustrated with Carpender's attitude, and appealed to Blamey, who in turn took up the matter with MacArthur.

Carpender told Lieutenant General Frank Berryman that he "resented the implication that Uncle Sam's Navy was letting [the Australians] down at Finschhafen.

He returned to the United States, where he commanded the Ninth Naval District from 3 January 1944 until 31 August 1945, for which he was awarded a second Legion of Merit.

[26] In 1948, he was elected Superintendent of the private, college-prep school Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey (today located in St. Petersburg, Florida), succeeding Brig.