Following
shakedown in the
San Diego area,
William C. Cole underwent post-shakedown availability at her builder's yard before departing the west coast on 19 July, bound for the
Hawaiian Islands. After reaching
Oahu, the new destroyer escort trained out of
Pearl Harbor for the remainder of the month.
August 1944 – March 1945 William C. Cole departed Oahu on 1 August in company with , as part of the screen for the
oilers and ; the
seaplane tender ; the
escort carriers and ; the
refrigeration ship ; and the merchant
freighter SS
Cape Pillar. After delivering that
convoy safety to
Majuro in the
Marshalls,
Cole escorted
Admiralty Islands and
Bougainville back to Pearl Harbor. After a five-day availability,
William C. Cole departed Pearl Harbor with the destroyer escorts and in the screen for a Marshalls-bound merchant convoy.
William C. Cole was detached on 28 August and escorted the freighter SS
Cape Page to
Kwajalein before she headed for Hawaii on 1 September. Upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor, the destroyer escort commenced a week's availability.
William C. Cole departed the Hawaiian Islands on 15 September and subsequently convoyed the escort carrier to
Manus Island, in the
Admiralty Islands. On 25 September,
Cole reported to Commander,
South Pacific Forces, for duty. Underway from
Seeadler Harbor, Manus, on 1 October,
William C. Cole and
sister ship sailed for the
Solomon Islands. From 4 to 11 October,
Cole trained out of
Purvis Bay with the other ships of Escort Division 73 (CortDiv 73). One week later, on 18 October, the destroyer escort escorted SS
Cape Johnson from
Lunga Point,
Guadalcanal, to
Cape Torokina,
Bougainville, before returning to Purvis Bay for upkeep and gunnery training that lasted for the remainder of October.
William C. Cole operated out of Purvis Bay into February 1945, performing local escort missions between Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and
New Caledonia; ships escorted included SS
Sea Cat,
SS "Sea Snipe", , , , , , , and . After gunnery exercises from 3 to 23 February,
William C. Cole reported by dispatch on the 23d to Commander,
5th Fleet. From 24 February through the first week in March, she performed screening duties off the transport staging area, Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, protecting the transports of Amphibious Squadron 4 (PhibRon 4) during landing exercises in the vicinity. While the transports of PhibRon 4 loaded at Lunga Point,
Cole screened them from 10 to 13 March. On the latter day, she received onward routing and proceeded for the
Russell Islands. On the 15th, the destroyer escort headed for
Ulithi, in the Western
Carolines, in company with , , and , escorting various units of PhibRon 4. Detached on the 21st,
William C. Cole joined
Paul G. Baker to escort for the
attack cargo ships, and , to the
Marianas. After delivering their charges safely to
Saipan, the two destroyer escorts proceeded immediately to Ulithi where they were replenished before sortieing with Carrier Division 22 (CarDiv 22) – less and – as part of the escort that included the destroyers , , and . Relieved of escort and screening duties for the carriers on 31 March,
William C. Cole subsequently joined other ships of CortDiv 73 escorting Transport Squadron 18 (TransRon 18) on its way to
Okinawa.
Battle of Okinawa The ships made their final approaches through the western islands off Okinawa and arrived off the beachhead by midday. Light enemy aircraft activity greeted the initial forces – activity that would, in time, become heavy and nearly ceaseless. Between 1 and 4 April, the ship went to
general quarters numerous times during the many air raid alerts caused by enemy planes in the vicinity.
William C. Cole downed one plane and assisted in downing two others. Retiring from Okinawa on 5 April as an escort for Transport Division 42 (TransDiv 42),
William C. Cole headed for Saipan. Upon arrival, the ship received routing to Ulithi where she took on stores. Underway again on 13 April,
Cole sailed for Okinawa once more, this time in the screen for ships of TransDiv 56. Detached from escort duties upon her arrival off the western invasion beaches on 17 April,
William C. Cole soon commenced her activities as a vessel in the screen. She remained on screening stations in the vicinity of transport anchorages until retiring on the 26th in company with , , , and , as escort for TransDiv 104. After reaching Ulithi on the 30th,
Cole underwent four days of availability. Returning to active duty upon completion of repairs, the destroyer escort steamed on a picket station off the island of
Yap before returning to the Western Carolines on 13 May. The following day, in company with and as escort for the
battleship West Virginia and the
heavy cruiser ,
William C. Cole got underway to return to Okinawa. Arriving there on the 17th, she reported for screening duties. While on station,
William C. Cole observed moderate enemy air action from 19 to 23 May; but, on the 24th, she came under attack herself. Between 18:30 on the 24th and 06:00 on the 25th, the ship destroyed two enemy aircraft. First, a
Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" attempted a suicide run while
Cole was northeast of
Ie Shima and crashed within a few feet of the destroyer escort's starboard beam. The plane passed so close that one of its wingtips bent a "spoon" of a torpedo tube mount which had been trained to starboard. The second plane, a
Kawasaki Ki-61 "Tony", came in from the ship's starboard side and was taken under a heavy fire from the ship's
20-millimeter and
40-millimeter guns. Because the captain of the ship saw the danger and ordered the engines to be thrown in full reverse this attacker overshot the ship and crashed some thousand yards beyond its target.
June – August 1945 On 30 May,
William C. Cole loaded ammunition at
Kerama Retto to replenish her depleted magazines before weighing anchor on the next day to sail to Saipan with a convoy of merchantmen. On 2 June, and
William C. Cole rendezvoused at sea with a Ulithi-bound convoy, and they arrived at their destination on the 6th having safely delivered their charges. Upon fueling,
Cole sailed for the
Philippines, in company with the destroyer and the destroyer escort , as escorts for a merchant,
Leyte-bound convoy. The convoy reached
San Pedro Bay on 10 June, and
William C. Cole received repairs to the damage she had suffered during the
kamikaze attack off Okinawa on 24 May. Subsequently, sailing for
Luzon in company with ,
Cole fueled upon arrival at
Lingayen and soon thereafter headed for Okinawa convoying
LST group 104. Arriving there on the 24th, the destroyer escort shifted to Kerama Retto the following day where she rendezvoused with , two ATA's (124 and 125), and
LCI-993 to join and in escorting those ships to Saipan, where they arrived on 30 June. Assigned to a patrol area east of Saipan on 2 July,
William C. Cole operated on that station until relieved on the 11th by . The destroyer escort remained at Saipan until 22 July, when she shifted to
Guam. Once there, she performed patrol work out of
Apra Harbor for a week before she returned to Saipan in company with .
Cole ended July escorting the
attack transport to the Marshalls. After shepherding the attack transport safely to
Eniwetok,
William C. Cole proceeded independently to Saipan, arriving on 8 August. Following training exercises with
submarines, antiaircraft firing practices, and a six-day availability, the destroyer escort patrolled off
Tinian until relieved on 17 August, two days after
Japan capitulated, bringing the long
Pacific War to a close. == Post-war operations ==