After taking on salvage gear at
New York,
Extricate sailed from
Norfolk, Virginia, 29 August 1943 in
convoy for the
Mediterranean. She called at
Casablanca,
Gibraltar, and
Bizerte, before arriving at
Naples, Italy, 16 October to serve as harbor fire fighting ship. Her first long struggle against fire was a successful three-day battle to save carrying highly flammable
aviation gas.
Extricate also fought a dock fire, and performed salvage work before leaving Naples 30 November for
Palermo and
Bari.
Commended for clearing Bari harbor Assigned to clear the harbor of Bari, glutted with 17 ships sunk when two ammunition ships had been exploded by German bombing,
Extricate won commendation from the British forces to whom she was then attached for the manner in which she carried out her duties. She raised two ships, beached a third, got an undamaged ship and three barges off the beach after they had been grounded in a storm, and carried out a miscellany of other salvage missions.
Invasion of Southern France Extricate was overhauled at
Bizerte and
Oran before returning to Naples 11 May 1944 for salvage and towing duty along the west coast of
Italy. From 7 August to 3 September she lay at
Calvi,
Corsica, preparing ships for their role in the invasion and capture of
southern France, and from 6 September to 8 November, served at
Marseille, clearing the harbor, fighting fires there and at
Toulon, and putting to sea to rescue mined merchantmen. From 17 November to 17 December she was at the
Azores for harbor and mooring work, and on 30 December she returned to
Charleston, South Carolina, for overhaul.
Transfer to the Pacific Fleet Extricate sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, 11 February 1945 for
Pearl Harbor, where she had salvage duty from 10 March to 13 April, rescuing storm-damaged small craft. She continued these operations at
Eniwetok from 24 April to 3 June, at
Ulithi from 11 to 22 June and at
Naval Base Okinawa at
Okinawa from 29 June. Here she salvaged sunken and beached
landing craft and provided repair services for large ships.
Destroyed by a typhoon During the
typhoon of 16 September, while aiding another ship,
Extricate lost power, and fouled both anchors. She continued her salvage operations, although further imperiled by damage from an underwater obstruction. But another typhoon on 9 October beached
Extricate, and she flooded so badly from the pounding that she had to be abandoned. == Decommissioning ==