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Sailing from San Diego,
California on 2 July 1943, Croatan arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on
19 July. As the nucleus for a hunter-killer group, she sailed on 5
August for antisubmarine operations in the Atlantic covering the
movement of convoys. Her planes had two skirmishes with surfaced
submarines, and on 5 September initiated night flying operations
from escort carriers. She returned to Norfolk on 22 September.
From 17 October-29 December 1943, Croatan made two voyages to
Casablanca ferrying aircraft and plane crews for the North African
operations. After another antisubmarine patrol from 14 January-27
February 1944, she took part in tests with the Naval Research
Laboratory at Annapolis, Maryland. From 24 March-11 May, Croatan
made a most successful patrol. On 7 April, her planes marked out
U-856, which was sunk by her escorts Champlin and Huse. On the night of 25–26 April, her four escorts joined in
sinking U-488. She was also successful in her
patrol from 2 June-22 July. On 10 June, Croatan's planes and escorts
Frost, Huse, and Inch attacked U-490 and remained in constant
contact with it, forcing it to surface the next day. Sixty survivors,
including the commanding officer, were rescued before the submarine
sank from scuttling charges at 42°47′N 40°08′W. Aircraft and escorts
Frost and Inch combined again to sink U-154 on 3 July, at 34°00′N
19°30′W.
Following a brief overhaul and radar tests with the Naval Research
Laboratory, Croatan put to sea again on 20 August 1944. On 15
September 1944, she aided survivors from Warrington who had foundered in
a hurricane. Returning to Norfolk on 1 October 1944, Croatan next sailed
for antisubmarine training at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Bermuda,
then proceeded to provide air cover for a high-speed east bound task
force, returning to New York on 4 February 1945. For the next month,
she qualified pilots in carrier operations, then sailed from Norfolk
on 25 March 1945 to join a barrier line to intercept German submarines as
part of Operation Teardrop. On 16 April, her escorts, Frost and
Stanton sank U-880 and U-1235 at 47°53′N 30°26′W. Croatan returned
by way of Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland to New York City on
14 May for overhaul.
From 15 September-3 November, Croatan qualified aviators at Quonset
Point, then cleared Norfolk on 23 November on the first of two
transatlantic voyages to bring troops home from Le Havre, France.
Croatan was placed out of commission in reserve at Norfolk on 20 May
1946. Reactivated, Croatan was assigned to the Military Sea
Transportation Service in a noncommissioned status, manned by a
civilian crew on 16 June 1958. In August 1963, she carried 23 F-104
Starfighters delivered to the Royal Norwegian Air Force 331 Squadron
at Bodø, Norway. In October 1964, she served as an experimental ship
under NASA control until May 1965. In August 1965, she helped
transport helicopters for the US Army's 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
to Vietnam. She was stricken for disposal on 15 September 1970 and
sold for scrap in 1971. |
