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Following shakedown
along the west coast, Attu got underway from San Diego on 7 August
with numerous aircraft and personnel for transportation to Pearl
Harbor. After a two-day stop in Hawaii, Attu continued on to
Guadalcanal and Espiritu Santo to deliver replacement aircraft and
personnel. The escort carrier then got underway on 31 August to
return to the United States.
She reached San Diego on 13 September and, shortly thereafter, began
post-shakedown availability at Terminal Island, California. This
work was completed on 28 September, and Attu sailed for Alameda,
California to load fuel, provisions and aircraft.
The escort carrier departed the west coast on 1 October and reached
Finschhafen, New Guinea, on the 18th. She later made a stop in
Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island before reversing her course and
heading back, via Pearl Harbor, to Alameda. Following a two-week
availability period, Attu sailed for Pearl Harbor on 23 November.
She shuttled supplies and troops between Guam and Pearl Harbor
before returning to San Diego on 4 January 1945.
The next day, Attu began an availability and was ready to sail once
again on the 20th. The ship reached Pearl Harbor on the 27th and
began gunnery exercises and flight operations off Oahu. On 1
February, the vessel sailed for Eniwetok. After pausing there
briefly on the 10th, she moved on to Ulithi. The ship departed the
atoll on 16 February to rendezvous with ships of Task Force 50 (TF
50). Attu was assigned the role of supplying replacement aircraft
and pilots to the fast carrier task forces operating in the forward
area. After discharging her cargo to the carriers, Attu sailed to
Guam for replenishment. The escort carrier continued her logistics
support role for the carrier forces through early July.
At that time, Attu returned to San Diego for repairs. On 24 July,
the ship sailed back to the Pacific theater of operations. Attu was
steaming in a fueling area south of the Japanese home islands when
word of Japan’s capitulation arrived.
The carrier sailed back to the west coast on 11 November and, on the
25th, began her participation in Operation Magic Carpet. In this
capacity, Attu made voyages to numerous points in the Pacific. She
steamed over 38,000 miles and returned over 4,000 service men to the
United States.
In May 1946, Attu was slated for disposal. The escort carrier sailed
to Norfolk, Virginia, via the Panama Canal and Jacksonville, Fla.
Attu decommissioned at Norfolk on 8 June 1946, and her name was
struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946. She was sold on 3 January
1947. |
