| Carteret (APA-70) was launched 15 August 1944 by Consolidate Steel
Corp., Wilmington, Calif., under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. A.
Wright; acquired by the Navy 2 December 1944; commissioned the next day, Lieutenant
Commander J. L. Hunter in command, and reported to the Pacific Fleet. Carteret sailed from
San Diego 24 January 1945 carrying troops to Pearl Harbor. With a call en route at Saipan,
she arrived off Iwo Jima to land troops and equipment in the invasion of the bitterly
contested island 19 February. She remained off the island to support the hard- fighting
Marines until 2 March, when she retired carrying casualties whom she took to Saipan.
Carteret sailed on to Tulagi and Espiritu Santo, arriving 19 March to load troops and
vehicles designated as reinforcements for Okinawa. The attack transport reached the
Okinawa beachhead 9 April 1945, and for the next seven days followed the pattern of
unloading by day, and retirement seaward by night. Unscathed by the fury of the Japanese
kamikaze attacks, she returned to Ulithi for repairs 23 April. On 16 May she got underway
for Palau, Cebu, and San Pedro Bay, P.I., at which points she embarked passengers for
transportation to San Francisco, where she arrived 27 June. After brief repairs at
Seattle, Wash., she sailed 17 July for duty in the redeployment of troops and equipment in
the Pacific. She called at Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, and Leyte, where she embarked occupation
troops for Jinsen, Korea. Another voyage from the Philippines to Jinsen preceded her
employment from 24 October 1945 to 2 March 1946 in two voyages from Japan and Okinawa to
the west coast returning servicemen. After special training at Pearl Harbor, Carteret was
transferred to JTF-1 for use in the atomic experiments at Bikini between 28 May and 27
August. Carteret was decommissioned 6 August 1946, and upon the completion of the tests,
was towed to Kwajalein for study. There she was sunk by Toledo (CA-133) 19 April 1948.
Carteret received two battle stars for World War II service.
Below is a picture of the USS Carteret which was obtained from from Shirley Shazar, the daughter of the Ships Dentist, Lt. Cmr. Delton Shazer, and supplied by Paul M. Conrad, Curriculum Technology Specialist, INCOLSA.
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