Six flush-deckers were awarded individual Presidential Unit Citations for action in World War II: DesRon 29’s Pope and John D. Ford for their roles in the defense of the Java Sea, February–March 1942; seaplane tender McFarland for extraordinary performance at Guadalcanal; and DesRon 30’s Dallas, Bernadou and Cole for landing Army special forces during the invasion of North Africa.
   In addition, two task groups operating with escort carriers received citations for outstanding performance against enemy German submarines operating in the Atlantic: Du Pont, Lea, Greene, Belknap, Osmond Ingram and George E. Badger operating with escort carrier Bogue and Borie; Barry and Goff operating with Card.