Casablanca operated in
the Strait of Juan de Fuca as a training ship for escort carrier
crews from the time of her commissioning until August 1944. On 24
August she cleared San Francisco carrying men, airplanes, and
aviation gasoline to Manus Island, a major base for western Pacific
operations. Returning to Seattle on 8 October, she resumed her
training operations in Puget Sound until 22 January 1945, when she
began a repair period at San Diego.
Putting to sea on 13 March, Casablanca called at Pearl Harbor, then
delivered passengers and aircraft brought from the West Coast to the
island of Guam. Acting as a transport ship for passengers, aircraft,
and aviation gasoline, she operated between Samar, Manus, and Palau
until 12 May, when she put back for a West Coast overhaul. She
returned with passengers to Pearl Harbor on 24 June, and through the
summer transported sailors and aviators from the West Coast to Pearl
Harbor and Guam. After brief employment in carrier qualification
training off Saipan in August, she carried homeward-bound U.S.
servicemen to San Francisco, arriving on 24 September. Continuing to
aid in the homecoming of soldiers, sailors, and Marines from the
Pacific Theater, the Casablanca carried passengers on a voyage from
the West Coast to Pearl Harbor in September and October, and the in
November she made a voyage from Pearl Harbor, to Espiritu Santo and
Nouméa to recover more passengers. Her last voyage on this duty in
Operation Magic Carpet, from 8 December 1945 to 16 January 1946, was
from San Francisco to Yokohama. The Casablanca departed San
Francisco on 23 January for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on 10
February. There she was decommissioned on 10 June 1946, and sold on
23 April 1947. |