World War II Career
After fitting out at Terminal Island, California, the attack transport conducted her shakedown between 8 and 18 October near San Clemente and Santa Barbara Islands. She departed the west coast on 23 October with USS Lowndes (APA-154), USS Pickens (APA-190), and USS Hendry (APA-118), bound for Hawaii. Arriving in Pearl Harbor on the 29th, Barrow then conducted amphibious exercises at Maui with elements of the Army's 381st and 389th Regimental Combat Teams through the end of November.
After embarking two Navy construction battalions at Pearl Harbor, Barrow sailed for the Marianas on 15 December in company with USS Flint (CL-97), USS Charles S. Sperry (DD-697), and USS Haynsworth (DD-700). Barrow and her two escorts - Flint left the convoy soon after departure—steamed by way of Eniwetok in the Marshalls and reached Apra Harbor, Guam, on the 27th. Later that day, Barrow moved on to Tinian where she arrived on the 28th. She disembarked the two construction battalions the next day and headed back to Guam, arriving in Apra on the 30th. She loaded elements of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and got underway for Hawaii in company with USS Rochambeau (AP-63) and USS Boyd (DD-544) on the last day of 1944.
The attack transport reached Pearl Harbor on 9 January 1945 and disembarked her passengers. The following day, she shifted berths to prepare for her first major operation—the assault on Iwo Jima, a small island in the Volcano Islands chain situated midway between Japan and American B-29 bases in the Marianas. Ideally suited to serve both as a base for fighter escort and as an emergency landing area for B-29's, Iwo Jima also figured prominently in Japanese defense plans. Barrow took on board a cargo of 8 inch ammunition to replenish the heavy cruisers supporting the landings. She embarked elements of the 5th Amphibious Corps, both at Pearl Harbor and at Maui, and then conducted four days of intense training at Maalaea Bay at Maui. Afterward, she spent nine days of logistics and rehabilitation at Pearl Harbor.
Read more about this topic: USS Barrow (APA-61)
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