Remembering Suwannee: U.S.S. Suwannee, Part 3

Eric Musgrove County Historian Last week, we continued the saga of the World War II escort carrier U.S.S. Suwannee. The article ended with Suwannee’s baptism of fire and entrance into the Pacific Theater of the war. We will continue that discussion this week. After modifications and repairs, Suwannee entered the Central Pacific Ocean to initiate a new phase of the assault upon Japan. Suwannee and other Allied forces would begin to retake islands that Japan had captured in the early months of the Pacific War. Her first stop was the island of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, where Suwannee’s aircraft attacked shore installations as Allied forces landed and captured the strateg