Following
shakedown out of
San Diego, California,
Shackle proceeded to
Pearl Harbor. In May, she continued west to
Midway Island where she cleared the entrance channel of the wreckage of
Macaw (ARS-11). She then returned to
Hawaii; and, in late November, took
ARD-2H in tow and again headed west. Brief duties at
Eniwetok,
Guam, and
Saipan followed; and, in late January 1945, she commenced preparations for the assault on
Iwo Jima.
Okinawa operations A unit of
Task Force 51, she arrived in the
Volcano Islands on 19 February and remained until 10 March. Having completed over 44 salvage and diving assignments, she then sailed for
Ulithi to prepare for the
Okinawa campaign. On 27 March, she departed the
Carolines for the
Ryukyus where, operating from
Kerama Retto, she provided assistance to ships on the vulnerable screening stations in the
Okinawa area and made repairs and pumped water from damaged ships in preparation for docking them. In May alone, she provided salvage and repair assistance to 21 ships, many of which were
kamikaze victims.
Minesweeping the East China Sea On 1 July,
Shackle joined
Task Group 39.11, a mine-sweeping group; and, during that month, as area "Juneau" in the
East China Sea was swept, she combined salvage and mine disposal duties. At the end of the month, she returned to
Buckner Bay, where, on 12 August, she witnessed the
torpedoing of
Pennsylvania and immediately commenced salvage work on the damaged
battleship. Three days later, the war ended.
End-of-war activity Shackle remained in the
Buckner Bay area until 20 September. She then sailed for
Tokyo Bay where, into November, she was employed in clearing the docking area at
Yokosuka. On the 27th, she started back across the
Pacific Ocean. Salvage duties interrupted her voyage at
Wake Island where she refloated and towed the hulk of the 326-foot dredge
Columbia back to
Pearl Harbor. At the end of December, she arrived at Pearl Harbor; and, in February 1946, continued on to the west coast. == Post-war decommissioning ==