History
After a shakedown cruise to Bermuda 28 September to 31 October 1944, Lewis received a week of upkeep at Boston before sailing to Casco Bay, Maine, for a few days training in early November. In company with Henry A. Wiley (DM-29), Lewis escorted battleships Texas (BB-35) and Arkansas (BB-60) south on 10 November. Joined two days later by Missouri (BB-63), Wake Island (CVE-65) and Shamrock Bay (CVE-84), the task unit proceeded through the Panama Canal and on to Hawaii via San Diego and San Francisco, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 5 December. The destroyer escort got underway on 26 December to escort merchant convoy PD220-T, shepherding her charges to Eniwetok without incident on 4 January 1945. Lewis sailed to Ulithi that same day, arriving at that atoll on the 10th. With large-scale operations in the Philippines requiring significant logistical support, Lewis spent the rest of the month conducted anti-submarine sweeps along the shipping routes and near Yap Island.
On 1 February, Lewis, along with Silverstein (DE-534), Howard F. Clark (DE-533) and Raymond (DE-341), formed Task Unit 50.7.2, an anti-submarine reserve unit assigned to the Logistics Support Force for the invasion of Iwo Jima. The destroyer escorts also provide screening services for Task Force 58 during air strikes against Japan in mid-February. The same task unit left Ulithi on 21 March for the Okinawa operation, screening Task Group 50.8 at sea in between escort and replenishment trips to Ulithi and Guam. During these operations Lewis was caught in the heavy typhoon of 2 June, at one point heeling over to 67 degrees. Lewis continued screening operations until 2 July when she was assigned to the Ulithi Surface Patrol and Escort Group, which was responsible for radar and anti-submarine services at Ulithi and providing escort services to periodic Okinawa-bound convoys.
Lewis departed the Far East on 15 September and sailed for Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor later that month. She remained there until 18 November when she sailed for California, arriving at San Pedro on the 23d. Transferred to the 9th Fleet, Lewis decommissioned on 31 May 1946 and entered the Reserve Fleet at San Diego on 30 July 1946.
Read more about this topic: USS Lewis (DE-535)
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