Assigned to the Pacific
Fleet, Cape Esperance made two voyages from the west coast to South
Pacific bases from 26 May-20 September 1944, carrying new aircraft
out, and returning with planes needing repairs. Loaded with
combat-ready aircraft, she sailed from San Francisco on 5 October to
join Task Group 30.8 (TG 30.8) on 2 November in its support of 3rd
Fleet air strikes on Leyte and Luzon. From her decks, replacement
aircraft roared off to the operating carriers, ready to take their
part in pounding the Japanese out of the Philippines. Continuing to
operate from Ulithi and Guam through January, Cape Esperance carried
fresh aircraft to the far-ranging Task Force 38 (TF 38) for its
strikes on Japanese air bases on Formosa and the China coast.
In February the escort carrier returned to the west coast to load
new aircraft which she carried to Guam. This was the first of a
series of such voyages in which she brought to the western Pacific a
large number of the aircraft which roared over Iwo Jima, Okinawa,
and the Japanese home islands in the massive carrier raids of the
war's last months.
At the close of the war, Cape Esperance sailed from San Diego to
Pearl Harbor, returning to San Francisco on 11 September 1945 with
aircraft and passengers. She made similar voyages until
decommissioned and placed in reserve at Bremerton, Washington, 22
August 1946.
Recommissioned on 5 August 1950, Cape Esperance reported to the
Military Sea Transportation Service for duty as an aircraft
transport. During the next nine years, she cruised widely in the
Pacific, delivering aircraft to Japan for use in the Korean War,
supporting atomic tests at Eniwetok, and making two voyages to bring
aircraft to the Royal Thai Air Force at Bangkok. In 1952, she sailed
to Hong Kong, to evacuate Chinese Nationalist aircraft in danger of
seizure by the Chinese Communists. Reclassified CVU-88 on 12 June
1955, Cape Esperance made her first transatlantic crossing in 1956
to ferry aircraft to and from Italy, France, and Portugal. Returning
to the Pacific under an operating schedule that found her almost
constantly at sea, Cape Esperance carried aircraft to Pakistan later
in 1956. She continued to make as many as eight transpacific voyages
in a year, supporting forces of the United States and Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization countries. Cape Esperance was decommissioned 15
January 1959, and sold on 14 May 1959. |