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Sitkoh Bay spent the
month after commissioning completing her fitting out and making
short shakedown and trial cruises along the northwestern coast of
the United States. On 28 April, the escort carrier entered port at
Alameda, California, loaded cargo and embarked passengers. She stood
out of Alameda on 30 April, bound for Pearl Harbor, and began the
first of many routine voyages shuttling planes, pilots, and air
crewmen back and forth between the front line and rear areas. The
majority of her missions carried her from Pearl Harbor, or via Pearl
Harbor from the California coast, to various islands in the southern
or central Pacific which served as staging areas for the war being
waged farther north or west. In the latter part of 1944, her ports
of call were Majuro in the Marshall Islands, and Manus in the
Admiralty Islands. From these two points, planes were staged on to
the 3rd and 7th Fleets, respectively.
In January 1945, the South Pacific was dropped from Sitkoh Bay's
itinerary, and she concentrated on replenishing the 3rd Fleet in the
Central Pacific. Her ports of call included Apra Harbor, Guam, in
the Marianas; Roi Harbor, Roi Island, and Eniwetok in the Marshalls;
and Ulithi Atoll in the Western Carolines. Her missions in early
1945 were in support of the campaigns in the Philippines, the
assault on Iwo Jima, and the preparations for the invasion of
Okinawa.
Sitkoh Bay's only action came on 7 April 1945 while she was
delivering Marine Air Group 31 to Okinawa. At 1528, a Yokosuka P1Y
"Frances" dove at the carrier. Sitkoh Bay's anti-aircraft gunners
combined with an F4U Corsair on combat air patrol from Breton to
splash the interloper about 100 yards off Sitkoh Bay's port beam.
The next day, she cleared the area for Guam en route to Pearl Harbor
and a return to her replenishment routine.
After the cessation of hostilities with Japan on 15 August, Sitkoh
Bay joined Task Group 30.8 (TG 30.8), the replenishment group for
the 3rd Fleet, and cruised with it off the southeastern coast of
Honshū from 25 August-5 September. On 10 September, she entered
Eniwetok and departed the next day for Guam. For the next month, she
made voyages between Guam, Samar Island in the Philippines, and
Okinawa, returning to Pearl Harbor on 18 October and San Diego on
the 26th for an availability period. After further voyages to the
Central Pacific, Sitkoh Bay returned to the United States and was
placed out of commission, in reserve, on 30 November 1946 at
Bremerton, Wash.
On 29 July 1950, Sitkoh Bay recommissioned, Captain C. W. Lord in
command. She was assigned to the Military Sealift Service, and for
the next four years, she sailed between the west coast and Japan,
supporting U.N. forces in Korea. Her major ports of call were San
Francisco, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor and Yokohama and Yokosuka in
Japan. Sitkoh Bay departed from this west coast-to-Japan routine
three times over those four years. In March 1951, she delivered a
load of F8F Bearcats to the French forces at Saigon in French
Indochina and then visited Manila, P.I., before returning to
California-to-Japan runs. In September, she visited Pusan, Korea.
Sitkoh Bay ventured from her normal sea-lanes again in May 1952,
when she sailed back to San Francisco from Yokosuka.
The escort carrier ceased operations again in 1954 and was placed
out of commission, in reserve, on 27 July. She joined the Pacific
Reserve Fleet and was berthed at San Francisco. On 12 June 1955, the
mothballed escort carrier was redesignated a utility aircraft
carrier, CVU-86. In mid-March 1958, she changed berthing areas,
moving from San Francisco to San Diego. On 1 April 1960, Sitkoh Bay,
by then reclassified as a cargo ship and aircraft ferry, AKV-86, was
struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Her hulk was sold on 30
August 1960 to Eisenberg & Co. of New York City for scrapping. |
