Clearing San Diego,
California on 26 October 1943, Corregidor joined Carrier Division 24
(CarDiv 24) at Pearl Harbor for air strikes in the Gilbert Islands
invasion from 10 November-6 December. She returned to San Diego to
undergo repairs and load aircraft and men, then resumed operations
out of Pearl Harbor with her division. From 22 January-3 March 1944,
she sailed in the Marshall Islands operation, providing air cover
for the invasion of Kwajalein.
Corregidor put to sea on 11 March 1944 for Guadalcanal, arriving
there on 21 March. With the 3rd Fleet, she sortied on 30 March to
provide air cover for the landings on Emirau Island, returning to
Port Purvis on 14 April. Two days later, she sailed to join the 7th
Fleet for air operations at Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura)
between 22–26 April, then put in to Manus Island for replenishment
and antisubmarine patrols until 4 May. Embarking Commander, Carrier
Division 24 for the Marianas operation, Corregidor provided combat
air patrols and anti-aircraft support for the invasion of Saipan
from 15–25 June, with her aircraft accounting for at least eight
enemy planes. She covered the logistics force off Eniwetok from 1–3
July, then aided in the softening up bombardment of Guam and
provided air cover for the invasion until 28 July, when she returned
to San Diego for overhaul.
She worked on qualifying pilots in carrier operations at Pearl
Harbor from 12 October-21 November 1944. On 26 October, she formed
as a hunter-killer group with EscDiv 64, around to check out
reported enemy submarine movements between Pearl Harbor and
California. On 2 January 1945, this group moved to patrol the area
between Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok to protect heavy Allied shipping,
returning to Pearl Harbor on 13 February.
Corregidor sailed from Pearl Harbor on 27 February to search for an
overdue plane carrying Lieutenant General M. F. Harmon, USA,
arriving at Majuro on 20 March. From 21 March-27 April, she
conducted an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Japanese-held
Wotje and Maloelap in the Marshalls, then off Eniwetok.
Returning to Pearl Harbor on 4 May 1945, Corregidor was assigned
duty as a training ship in Hawaii, conducting carrier pilot
qualifications until the end of the war. From 2 October 1945-10
January 1946, she alternated this duty with three voyages from Pearl
Harbor to San Diego to return homeward-bound servicemen. Corregidor
cleared San Diego on 18 January 1946 for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving
there on 4 February. Here she was placed out of commission in
reserve on 30 July 1946.
Recommissioned on 19 May
1951, Corregidor was assigned to operate with the Military Sealift
Command. She ferried men, aircraft, and aviation cargo to NATO
nations under the Mutual Defense Assistance Plan, but also made five
voyages through the Panama Canal to bring men and cargo to the
United Nations forces in Korea in 1952-1954. Corregidor was
reclassified T-CVU-58 on 12 June 1955. When the Lebanon crisis broke
in the summer of 1958, Corregidor was at Brindisi, Italy, and
immediately lifted two reconnaissance planes of the 24th Infantry
Division, and 10 helicopters to support the landings in Lebanon.
Returning to the United States, the ship suffered hull damage in the
Atlantic Ocean due to high seas on the night of 2 April 1958. She
was transiting from Barcelona, Spain to NAS Pensacola, Florida, with
20 officers and 150 enlisted men. She made an emergency stop-over in
the Azores.Corregidor was decommissioned on 4 September 1958, and
sold for scrap on 28 April 1959. |