Service History
After shakedown training in which Capt. Gallery made the first take off and landing aboard his new ship, Guadalcanal performed pilot qualifications out of San Diego, California, and then departed on 15 November 1943, via the Panama Canal, for Norfolk, Va., arriving on 3 December. There she became flagship of Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3), and with her escort destroyers set out from Norfolk on 5 January 1944 in search of enemy submarines in the North Atlantic. On 16 January, aircraft from Guadalcanal sighted three submarines fueling on the surface, and in a rocket and bombing attack succeeded in sinking U-544. Replenishing at Casablanca, the task group headed back for Norfolk and repairs, arriving on 16 February.
Departing again with her escorts on 7 March, Guadalcanal sailed without incident to Casablanca and got underway from that port on 30 March with a convoy bound for the United States. Scouring the waters around the convoy on 8 April northwest of Madeira, the task group discovered U-515 and closed in for the kill. Guadalcanal aircraft and Chatelain, Flaherty, Pillsbury and Pope made several well coordinated attacks on the intruder with rockets and depth charges throughout the night. Losing depth control on the afternoon of 9 April, the submarine was forced to surface amid the waiting ships, and was immediately devastated by point blank rocket and gunfire. As F4F Wildcats from Guadalcanal strafed the submarine, her captain, Kapitaenleutenant Werner Henke, ordered abandon ship and she went to the bottom.
Again on the night of 10 April, the task group caught U-68 on the surface in broad moonlight 300 miles south of the Azores and sank her with depth charges and rocket fire. The convoy arrived safely at Norfolk on 26 April 1944.
After voyage repairs at Norfolk, Guadalcanal and her escorts departed Hampton Roads for sea again on 15 May 1944. Two weeks of cruising brought no contacts, and the task force decided to head for the coast of Africa to refuel.
Read more about this topic: USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)
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