Following sea trials in
Chesapeake Bay,
Wasatch sailed for the
Pacific on 26 June in company with and , and transited the
Panama Canal on 3 July, bound for
New Guinea. The ship reached
Milne Bay at 17:25 on 31 July and ten days later, embarked Rear Admiral
William Fechteler from . On 7 September, Rear Admiral
Daniel E. "Uncle Dan" Barbey, who commanded Task Force (TF) 76, embarked in
Wasatch; and the ship got underway for
Aitape to join other units of the
Morotai-bound task force.
1944 On 15 September, air strikes and surface bombardments softened up the invasion beaches; and American troops splashed ashore to occupy the island. Meanwhile,
Wasatch stood off shore and served as the nerve center of the operation. At 18:00, she retired to seaward to await the dawn when she would again close the beach to direct the landing operations. Retaliatory air strikes did not come near the command ship on this occasion, although her war diary notes that a plane was downed ahead in the next group. Anchoring off Doeroba at 08:30 on the 17th, Admiral Barbey directed operations from
Wasatch until he shifted his flag to to orchestrate the proceedings from there, from 18:09. A half-hour later,
Wasatch, in company with , got underway for
Humboldt Bay. The AGC remained at Humboldt and prepared for upcoming operations into early October. On the 14th, Vice Admiral
Thomas C. Kinkaid broke his flag in
Wasatch, as Commander, Task Unit (TU) 77.1.1. On the following day, the ship — with Lt. Gen.
Walter Krueger embarked — got underway for the
Philippines, to participate in the first act of the dramatic "return" to the Philippine
archipelago. Entering Surigao Strait at 04:55 on the 20th,
Wasatch proceeded up
Leyte Gulf.
Battleships,
cruisers, and
destroyers commenced bombarding the
Leyte beachhead at 09:20 that morning and, some 40 minutes later, the first landing craft were churning towards the beach. Throughout the day,
Wasatch stood offshore in a position from which the landings could be observed and served as the nerve center for the operation. From the 20th through the 23rd, the ship retired to sea nightly, in company with , , and . Enemy air retaliation materialized swiftly in the wake of the American landings; and
Wasatchs gunners stood at their weapons, ready to augment the heavy volume of anti-aircraft fire from other Allied ships that fought off the attackers. Anchored off "White Beach" early on the morning of the 25th, those on watch topside in
Wasatch saw lightning-like flickerings of gunfire in the distance to the southward, as Rear Admiral
Jesse B. Oldendorf's
battleships and
cruisers crossed the "T" of the Japanese "Southern Force" and in short order annihilated the enemy warships in the
Battle of Surigao Strait. However, the "Southern Force" was not the only one that the Japanese threw against the Allied forces to contest the
Leyte invasion. The enemy's "
Center Force" — consisting of four
battleships and five
cruisers, had passed into the
Philippine Sea during the night of 24 and 25 October. That group suddenly appeared to Rear Admiral
Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" escort carrier task group off
Samar. Sprague's six escort carriers and their attending screen fought bravely against overwhelming odds in what became known as the
Battle off Samar. While the
destroyers and
destroyer escorts hurled themselves at the Japanese
capital ships and
cruisers in suicidal attacks, the
"jeep carriers" launched planes. Capt. Richard F. Whitehead — embarked in
Wasatch as Commander, Support Aircraft — immediately ordered all American planes not attacking Japanese shore positions in support of the landings to strike the Japanese ships of the "Center Force." Six
Grumman Avengers and 20
Grumman Wildcats from the CVE's nearby responded to the summons and, together with the planes launched from "Taffy 3" under fire, bore in at 08:30 for their first attack. Ultimately, the heroic defense forced the Japanese "Center Force" to withdraw without damaging the vulnerable transports still unloading off the
Leyte beachhead. The victory had not been won without cost. The American forces lost , destroyers and , and the destroyer escort, . They had given their lives to buy time. At 13:10 on the 25th, the AGC's gunners brought down a Japanese aircraft and helped to down two additional planes the following day. On the 29th, the command ship got underway for
New Guinea, in company with a powerful battleship-cruiser force, and, although buffeted by 80-knot winds en route, completed a safe passage to
Humboldt Bay at 12:18 on 2 November. Admiral Kinkaid disembarked upon arrival and shifted his flag to headquarters ashore. Rear Admiral
Arthur Dewey Struble, commanding Amphibious Group 9, embarked in
Wasatch on 3 November and remained in the command ship until transferring to . On 20 November, Admiral Kinkaid again embarked in
Wasatch, and, escorted by and , proceeded to
Leyte and anchored in
San Pedro Bay on the 25th. There, while intense planning sessions were occurring on board — in preparation for the
Lingayen Gulf landings in January of the following year — Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman embarked to establish his temporary headquarters in
Wasatch as Commander, Philippine Sea Frontier, from 29 November to 2 December.
1945 While
Wasatch was in
San Pedro Bay, enemy nuisance air attacks kept all hands constantly on the alert. On 6 January 1945, escorted by ,
Wasatch got underway for
Lingayen Gulf,
Luzon. Japanese suicide aircraft materialized off the coast near
Manila; and, as she had done earlier,
Wasatch put up a heavy barrage of anti-aircraft fire from every gun in her battery from 20 millimeter to 5 inch. Japanese
kamikazes and suicide motorboats flung themselves at the American ships; but, in three days, the fury had largely spent itself. As American troops consolidated their beachhead at Lingayen,
Wasatch, in company with , departed the area on 27 January, bound for
Mindoro where she anchored at 05:30 on the 29th. Vice Admiral Kinkaid shifted his flag ashore on 4 February, leaving the command ship temporarily bereft of an embarked flag officer. Rear Admiral Fechteler — who had been the first flag officer who utilized
Wasatch as his headquarters — again hoisted flag in the AGC from 7 March to 16 March. Then, Rear Admiral
Albert G. Noble broke his flag in her on the 22nd.
Wasatch weighed anchor on 31 March, in company with , , and and departed
Leyte Gulf for
Mindoro. On 11 April, Rear Admiral Noble directed a mock landing before directing the "real thing" six days later, as American forces went ashore on sparsely garrisoned
Mindanao, while
Wasatch stood by at anchor in Polluc Harbor, from the 17th. Rear Admiral Noble shifted to Spencer on 1 May for landings in southern
Mindanao and later used
Wasatch as his base when he traveled to and from
Manila on important conferences through the end of the month. Shifting to
Morotai, the scene of the ship's baptism of fire,
Wasatch took part in the staging operations which led to the landings on
North Borneo. On 26 June, the command ship, with Rear Admiral Noble embarked, cleared
Morotai; and she arrived off the target beachhead on 1 July. While General
Douglas MacArthur observed from and Rear Admiral Barbey watched from , the first wave of Australian troops splashed ashore to encounter light opposition.
Wasatch subsequently returned to
Morotai, where Admiral Noble shifted his flag to
Spencer on 3 July. Shifting to Humboldt Bay once more, and then to Seeadler Harbor,
Manus, in the
Admiralties,
Wasatch was undergoing general repairs and an overhaul when she received word on 15 August of
Japan's surrender. After
V-J Day,
Wasatch took part in the
occupation of
Wakayama and
Nagoya,
Japan, and Taku,
China, into the fall of 1945. Underway from Taku on 7 November 1945, the ship sailed for the United States, via
Pearl Harbor, and arrived at
San Francisco on 10 December 1945.
Decommissioning at
San Diego, California, on 30 August 1946,
Wasatch was placed in the
San Diego group of the
Reserve Fleet in April 1947. Struck from the
Navy list on 1 January 1960, the ship was transferred to the
Maritime Administration and sold for scrapping to the
National Metal and Steel Corporation, of
Terminal Island, California.
Wasatch received five battle stars for her
World War II service. ==References==