The Central Pacific Area Fleet was a short-lived operational headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy, established on March 4, 1944. With United States Navy forces having driven the Japanese out of the Marshall Islands and Caroline Islands in late 1943 to early 1944, the remnants of Japanese naval forces from those areas regrouped under the direction of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. The new Central Pacific Area Fleet was a combined operational command containing air (IJN 14th Air Fleet) and ground (IJA 31st Army) elements, and was tasked with the defense of the Mariana Islands and Palau, from its command center in Saipan.