Escorting Small Carriers
Following her duties with the transport screen off Okinawa, Tills was assigned to the screen of Carrier Division 22 which contained escort carriers Santee (CVE-29), Chenango (CVE-28), and Block Island (CVE-106). As these small carriers steamed toward Sakishima, their planes loaded bombs and prepared to launch. Their target, Sakishima, had been serving as a refueling base for Japanese aircraft shuttling between Kyūshū and Formosa and was thus an important link in the chain of airbases which supplied Japan's dreaded kamikaze offensive with its deadly aircraft. Tills served as antisubmarine screen and plane guard for these strikes which commenced on 1 June. The group returned to Kerama Retto to rearm and refuel before proceeding northward on 20 June for further strikes.
Four days later, the destroyer escort returned to hunter-killer operations and maintained antisubmarine patrols on a continuous basis until making port at Ulithi for availability alongside repair ship Oahu (ARG-5). For the remainder of July and into August, Tills continued antisubmarine operations on the sea lanes converging in the Western Caroline basin.
Read more about this topic: USS Tills (DE-748)
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