Intercepting Infiltrating Swimmers
Straus sailed with a Ulithi-bound convoy on 8 October and arrived five days later. She became station ship for the Commander, Western Carolines, Patrol and Escort Group. The DE moved to the Palau Islands, on 15 November, with her division, Escort Division 65, and was assigned to the screen around Peleliu and Angaur. On the 18th, a report was received that enemy swimmers were moving from Eli Malk Island, under cover of darkness, toward Peleliu. Straus provided starshell illumination while a landing craft flotilla attacked the swimmers with machine guns and eliminated them. The ship returned to Ulithi on the 26th, and resumed her former duties until March 1945 when she was attached to the U.S. 5th Fleet.
Straus departed Ulithi on 26 March with a task unit en route to rendezvous with task group TG 50.8, the main logistics group that was refueling and replenishing the fast carriers during the Okinawa operations. She remained with the group until 26 June. Two days later, she sailed from Ulithi with a convoy en route to Okinawa. The ships arrived on 2 July, and Straus was assigned to antisubmarine patrol. The DE continued operating in the Okinawa area after the cessation of hostilities with Japan.
Read more about this topic: USS Straus (DE-408)
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