After fitting out and conducting her initial
sea trials in
Puget Sound,
Bering Strait departed
Seattle, Washington, on 10 August 1944. She reached
Naval Air Station Alameda at
Alameda, California, on 13 August 1944. From 17 August 1944 to 13 September 1944, she conducted her
shakedown, covering areas such as ship control, communications, general drills, engineering and damage control instruction, gunnery training, and antiaircraft and
antisubmarine work. Proceeding to
Los Angeles, California, upon completion of that training,
Bering Strait underwent two weeks of repairs and alterations at
Terminal Island Naval Drydocks at
Terminal Island, California.
World War II Training operations in Hawaii Reporting for duty with the
United States Pacific Fleet on 2 October 1944,
Bering Strait sailed for the
Hawaiian Islands on 3 October 1944. She arrived at
Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on 9 October, and on 13 October 1944 sailed for
Hilo, Hawaii. Arriving there on 14 October, she established a seaplane base at
Kuhio Bay and, until 5 November, carried out training with successive detachments of
Glenn L. Martin Company PBM Mariner flying boats. She tended six Martin PBM-3Ds from
Patrol Bombing Squadron 25 (VPB-25) from 14 to 19 October 1944 and a second detachment of six PBM-3Ds from the same squadron between 19 and 29 October 1944, after which time she tended six Mariners from Patrol Bombing Squadron 26 (VPB-26). Concluding those advanced base activities on 5 November 1944, she sailed for
Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay at
Kaneohe, Hawaii, the same day. Arriving at her destination on the 6th,
Bering Strait received orders to organize and train an
air-sea rescue task group made up of herself and the seaplane detachment of Rescue Squadron 2 (VH-2), an assignment that required her to exchange her aviation
spare parts allowance for PBM-3D Mariner patrol bombers for spares for PBM-3R Mariner rescue aircraft. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 23 November 1944,
Bering Strait underwent a
shipyard availability and then loaded the equipment of Rescue Squadron 3 (VH-3), which had been substituted for VH-2.
Operations in the Marshall Islands Bering Strait sailed for the
Marshall Islands on 1 December 1944. During the passage to
Kwajalein Atoll, the ship served as antisubmarine screen for the seaplane tender . After pausing at Kwajalein from 9 to 12 December,
Bering Strait returned to sea again with
Cumberland Sound and steamed to
Eniwetok, arriving there on 13 December 1944 to carry out air-sea rescue training, which began after VH-3 arrived from Kaneohe on 15 December. She conducted nine days of training with VH-3 before that squadron transferred to
Cumberland Sound on 24 December 1944.
Bering Strait, along with the
patrol craft and , then escorted the
cargo ship and six
merchant ships from
Eniwetok to
Saipan in the
Mariana Islands, departing on 24 December 1944.
Operations in the Mariana Islands Bering Strait and her
convoy arrived on 28 December 1944 at
Garapan Harbor on Saipan. Shifting on 29 December 1944 to
Tanapag Harbor,
Saipan, she received VH-3 on board that day. On 1 January 1945, however,
Bering Strait transferred her aviation maintenance unit to VH-3 for temporary duty and sent her aviation officer, aviation storekeepers, all aviation spare parts, and three of her boats to the naval air base at
Tanapag, so that the organization could be maintained intact ashore. That day, she reported to Commander, Marianas Patrol and Escort Force, for temporary operational control for
radar picket and air-sea rescue duty. She departed Tanapag Harbor on 5 January 1945 to take up her new task. From 6 to 15 January 1945,
Bering Strait operated west of
Sarigan and
Guguan Islands, on radar picket station to warn Saipan of approaching
Japanese planes. Returning to Saipan for logistics on 16 January 1945, she embarked a
fighter-director officer from a
United States Marine Corps aircraft group on 18 January 1945, and departed later that day to assume radar picket duties as fighter-director ship in
Operation Michigan to intercept Japanese planes operating between
Iwo Jima and
Truk. Returning to Saipan on 28 January 1945 for
logistics and to disembark the U.S. Marine Corps fighter-direction officer,
Bering Strait commenced a six days of voyage repairs. On 4 February 1945, she sailed to relieve the
destroyer on air-sea rescue
lifeguard station. At 23:00 hours on 10 February 1945,
Bering Strait made contact with a homeward-bound
Boeing B-29 Superfortress, first by
radar and then visually. The ship switched on her lights and stood by for a landing, illuminating the sea and then indicating the wind direction with searchlights. The B-29, named ''Deacon's Delight'', accomplished "an almost perfect ditching," from the Navy "on personal initiative."
Bering Strait remained at sea, from Pagan Island, from 11 to 14 March 1945, at which time she relieved her
sister ship, the seaplane tender at another air-sea rescue station. Returning to Saipan for logistics on 16 March 1945,
Bering Strait disembarked the 20 airmen taken on board since 10 March 1945 before sailing for
Guam.
Bering Straits performance of her rescue function earned her accolades from the Commanding General of the
United States Army Air Forces 313th Bombardment Wing who, upon the ship's detachment from lifeguard duties, sent her a message: "Since you have been our guardian angel of the seas you have returned safely to us 50 combat crewmen. Many of them are flying against the enemy again. We are grateful for the splendid work you have done and wish you all the best of luck."
Invasion of Okinawa On 18 March 1945,
Bering Strait began preparations for
Operation Iceberg, the invasion of
Okinawa. Underway on 19 March 1945, she escorted the seaplane tender to Saipan and completed the preparations for "Iceberg" by loading VH-3 equipment between 20 and 23 March 1945. This work accomplished, she sailed for
Kerama Retto on 23 March 1945 in company with three large seaplane tenders and three of her sister ships, as
Task Group (TG) 51.20. Reaching her destination on 28 March 1945,
Bering Strait anchored in the Kerama Retto passage, and TG 51.20 established a seaplane base that day. The next day, VH-3 arrived and flew its first "Dumbo" mission. On "L-day," 1 April 1945, the invasion of
Okinawa commenced. The first "Dumbo" mission of the invasion for VH-3 proved successful, as the squadron commander,
Lieutenant Commander W. H. Bonvillian, rescued the three-man crew of a
Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber from Torpedo Squadron 29 (VT-29). Antiaircraft fire had brought the plane down in a
rice paddy, and the three crewmen deemed it prudent to take to their rubber boat and head out to sea where Lieutenant Commander Bonvillian's Mariner picked them up. For the next three months,
Bering Strait served as the coordinating control tender at Kerama Retto, not only tending seaplanes but also conducting
sonar searches to guard against
midget submarine incursions. Planes under her direction carried out 268 missions during April, May, and June 1945, rescuing 105 men from 39 different squadrons – 26 U.S. Navy, ten U.S. Marine Corps, two U.S. Army Air Forces, and one
British Fleet Air Arm. The
aircraft carrier-based squadrons among that number came from 23 ships, including the British fleet carrier . Twice during April 1945, one of
Bering Straits planes was forced down by friendly fire and compelled to taxi back to base. On 23 April 1945, one of her PBMs transferred a severely wounded U.S. Marine to the seaplane tender for medical treatment. A little over a month later, on 24 May 1945, her PBMs rescued a pilot from the waters at the mouth of
Ariake Bay, on southern
Kyūshū. Similar rescues took place on 2 June 1945, when
Bering Strait-based PBMs rescued the crew of a crashed
PB2Y Coronado from inside
Kagoshima Bay, as well as a pilot from the fleet carrier . Later that month, on 14 June 1945,
Bering Strait-based Mariners rescued
pilots under fire from Japanese guns at
Kikai Shima in the northern
Ryukyu Islands. Pilots and aircrew proved not the only beneficiaries of
Bering Straits controlled rescue missions. On 27 May 1945, two
kamikaze suicide aircraft crashed the destroyer . One
Bering Strait-based PBM rescued ten men from the ship while a second stood by in case the need arose to fly critically hurt
sailors to medical treatment. On other occasions,
Bering Straits planes escorted damaged aircraft to safety, or directed ships to the assistance of survivors in the water. The ship's stay at Kerama Retto likewise proved eventful, as, during that three-month period the ship went to
general quarters 154 times; there was one day, 6 June 1945, on which the ship stood to battle stations six times. On 5 May 1945, two of her men suffered injuries when hit by
shrapnel from friendly fire bursting too close to the ship during an attack by Japanese planes; she herself then fired on a Japanese plane attempting to crash on the nearby
St. George. On 21 June,
Bering Straits guns shot down a
Nakajima E4N Type 00 (
Allied reporting name "Jake")
reconnaissance floatplane. During that same raid, just after one
kamikaze had crashed the seaplane tender , a second overflew
Bering Strait and headed for the seaplane tender .
Bering Strait took the
kamikaze under fire and shot it down short of
Kenneth Whiting. Relieved of her duties as coordinating control tender on 30 June 1945,
Bering Strait shifted to
Chimu Bay, Okinawa, on 15 July. She tended four PBMs from VH-3 until 7 August, when she transferred them to another seaplane tender and assumed duties tending six planes from Rescue Squadron 1 (VH-1). Twice during her first months at Chimu Bay weather compelled her to undertake
typhoon evasion, once from 19 to 20 July 1945 and again between 1 and 3 August 1945.
Hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August 1945, bringing World War II to a close, while
Bering Strait was operating at Chimu Bay.
Honors and awards Bering Strait was awarded three
battle stars for her World War II service.
Post-World War II Departing Okinawa on 26 September 1945,
Bering Strait headed for
Japan to support the
occupation of that country. Reaching
Sasebo, Japan, soon thereafter, she remained at that port until her sister ship
Cook Inlet relieved her on 30 December 1945, then departed for the
United States. Proceeding via Pearl Harbor,
Bering Strait reached
San Francisco, California, on 21 January 1946 and commenced pre-inactivation
overhaul.
Decommissioning Bering Strait was
decommissioned at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, on 21 June 1946 and placed in the
Pacific Reserve Fleet. ==United States Coast Guard service==