USS Wantuck (APD-125) - World War II

World War II

Wantuck conducted shakedown training along the New England coast and then in the vicinity of Bermuda until 18 February 1945, when she arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia. On 21 February 1945, she departed Norfolk, Virginia, bound via the Panama Canal, San Diego, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for World War II service in the Western Pacific. She arrived at Oahu on 21 March 1945 and got underway again on 2 April 1945. She stopped at Eniwetok for the night of 10 April 1945-11 April 1945 and then resumed her voyage. She touched at Guam in the Mariana Islands on 14 April 1945 and then pushed on to the lagoon at Ulithi Atoll. There, she joined a convoy bound for the Ryukyu Islands and arrived in Kerama Retto near Okinawa on 21 April 1945. She remained at Okinawa screening the American ships there until 30 April 1945 when she got underway in the screen of a convoy containing 16 other ships bound for Saipan in the Marianas.

However, after seeing them safely out of the Ryukyus, she returned to Okinawa and resumed her duty screening the ships remaining at Kerama Retto. On 4 May 1945, she helped repulse an enemy air attack but claimed no kills or assists for herself. Later that day, when a kamikaze struck light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62), Wantuck went to the aid of the stricken cruiser. On 5 May 1945, she departed Okinawa in company with damaged Birmingham and destroyer-minesweeper USS Rodman (DMS-21) and set a course for Ulithi. En route, however, the ships received orders diverting them to Guam in the Marianas and, for the next two months, Wantuck made regular shuttle runs escorting convoys between Guam and Okinawa. That particular routine ended on 5 July 1945 when she departed Guam for Leyte in the Philippines. She entered San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 8 July 1945 and then headed back to Okinawa. She served in the Ryukyus for more than a month, during which the surrender of Japan ended World War II on 15 August 1945.