13th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion

The 11th Defense Battalion was commissioned on September 25, 1942 at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.[1] The battalion's Headquarters and Service Battery was formed by the re-designation of the Marine Barracks, Naval Operating Base, Guantanamo Bay. The rest of the battalion's personnel were later joined from training units in North Carolina. The battalion remained at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba providing air and coastal defense until March 5, 1944 when it embarked on the SS George Washington bound for the United States. The battalion arrived in New Orleans on March 11, 1944 with follow on travel to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Beginning in 1944 the Marine Corps removed coastal artillery from the defense battalions in order to form additional heavy artillery units for the Fleet Marine Force.[2] Because of the divestiture of the coastal defense mission, the battalion was re-designated as the 13th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on April 15, 1944.[3] In July 1944 the battalion travelled to the West Coase and sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving on August 14, 1944. The 13th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion was decommissioned on September 7, 1944 making it the first of the Defense/AAA Battalions to be decommissioned.