1945
She moved back out to sea in February and arrived off Iwo Jima three days after the initial assault. For 31 days, she performed yeoman service for the warships in the area. She pulled a transport off a sand bar. She deliberately ran herself aground alongside disabled LST-944 to help that ship land ammunition. More routine missions consisted of assisting broached landing craft and laying submerged fuel pipes.
Work in the shallows, however, was as dangerous to her as to others. While attempting to save LST-727 on 23 March 1945, she was stranded on Yellow Beach when a broken towline fouled her anchor and propeller. She lost two crewmen in the disaster and suffered a broken keel and holed sides. She was pulled off the beach by Zebra (AKN-5), temporarily repaired, and towed to Saipan. After further temporary repairs, Zuni was towed to Pearl Harbor where she arrived at the end of May. During the more than 14 weeks of repairs she underwent there, World War II ended.
Zuni resumed active duty on 15 September and served with the Pacific Fleet until early in 1946, when she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. She served in the 8th Naval District until she was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 and transferred to the United States Coast Guard. Zuni was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946.
Zuni earned four battle stars for her World War II service. Admiral William Halsey awarded the Legion of Merit to her skipper, Lt. Ray E. Chance. From the time of her commissioning Zuni was underway 80% of the time.
Read more about this topic: USS Zuni (ATF-95)