Clearing
Norfolk, Virginia, 6 May 1941,
Castor arrived at
San Diego, California, 20 May to begin a series of cargo voyages to
Pearl Harbor. In October, she carried
U.S. Marine reinforcements to
Johnston Island and
Wake Island.
Strafed at Pearl Harbor Returning to
San Francisco, California, to load explosives,
Castor arrived in Pearl Harbor three days before the
Japanese attack of 7 December 1941. Her guns were quickly brought into action, and while she was repeatedly strafed by enemy planes, she suffered little damage and no casualties in the attack.
Transporting emergency material after start of war Until 7 February 1942,
Castor carried cargo from the
U.S. West Coast to aid in the buildup of
Pearl Harbor as the nerve center for the
Pacific Ocean, then aided in the opening of operations in the critical South Pacific area with cargo runs from San Francisco to bases in
New Caledonia, the
New Hebrides, the
Fiji Islands, and
New Zealand. A cargo voyage to
Funafuti and
Espiritu Santo in November and December 1943 found her carrying essential supplies for the
Gilbert Islands invasion.
Invasion forces support From January 1944, her voyages from the west coast were to bases in the
Marshall Islands, and after a brief overhaul at
Seattle, Washington,
Castor reported at
Manus 18 September for duty with famed
task force TF 58. Operating primarily from Manus and
Ulithi, she replenished the fast carrier task force at sea thus helping to expedite the smashing series of raids which pushed the Japanese ever westward. The final phase of these operations found the cargo ship acting in support of the assault on
Okinawa, off which she operated through May and June 1945. Unscathed by the inferno which
kamikaze attacks made of duty off Okinawa,
Castor sailed for overhaul at San Francisco on 10 July.
End-of-war activity Between December 1945 and February 1947,
Castor supplied occupation forces in the
Far East, calling at
Guam,
Saipan,
Qingdao,
Hong Kong, and Japanese ports. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Francisco 30 June 1947. == Reactivated during Korean War ==