USS Alstede (AF-48) - Pacific Ocean Operations

Pacific Ocean Operations

Alstede completed trials and moored at the Naval Supply Depot, Oakland, California, to take on supplies destined for American servicemen participating in the postwar occupation of the islands of the Central Pacific Ocean. For over four years, the store ship made the circuit from the West Coast through the Marshall Islands to the Mariana Islands and back home to the United States. During those voyages, she most frequently visited Kwajalein and Eniwetok in the Marshalls and Guam and Saipan in the Marianas. On the outbound and return legs of those voyages, the ship made calls at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and frequently stopped at lonely Wake Island. Points of departure and return in the United States included San Diego, Long Beach, Oakland, San Francisco, Bremerton, and Seattle.

Even the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950 did not at first interrupt her routine. While other American forces rushed to the aid of hard-pressed South Korea, Alstede played no role in the conflict until the end of the year. Initially, that participation consisted only of a single, round-trip voyage to Sasebo, Japan—to deliver stores to that forward base—and back to the U.S. West Coast.