USS Aloe

Commissioned on 30 December 1942, Lt. Donald B. Howard, USNR, in command, Aloe departed San Francisco on 22 January 1943, bound for Pearl Harbor. Routed thence to New Caledonia, she reached Noumea on 18 March. Six days later, she got underway and proceeded via the New Hebrides, to the Solomon Islands.

The net tender spent the remainder of the war in the Pacific Ocean, laying and tending torpedo nets and buoys, and conducting various salvage and towing operations. She ranged from New Caledonia to Okinawa and included the Solomon Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Palau Islands in her itinerary. During this time, she was reclassified as a net layer, on 31 January 1944, her hull number becoming AN-6 on that date.

While perhaps pedestrian, Aloe's duties were, nevertheless, vital and certainly not without hazard, as was dramatically demonstrated soon after she arrived in the Solomons in the spring of 1943.

On 7 April of that year, she lay moored to the Sturgis Dock, Tulagi, when 67 "Vals" (Aichi D3A2 dive bombers), escorted by 110 "Zero" fighters—all but a very few of which had been drawn from the complements of four Japanese aircraft carriers—arrived to attack the shipping in the harbor there. The raid was a part of Admiral Yamamoto's Operation "I"—a series of massive air attacks aimed at American positions in the Solomons. Obviously interested in bigger game, the Japanese planes left Aloe alone, sinking destroyer Aaron Ward and an oiler and damaging a second oiler and cargo ship. Nevertheless, the net tender, with her solitary 3-inch gun and her four .50-caliber machine guns, contributed to the antiaircraft barrage that helped to drive the attackers off, claiming one "Val" shot down, another "possibly" splashed, and a third "damaged."

A little over a year later, Aloe next encountered the enemy during Operation "Forager" – the occupation of the Marianas. While in Task Group (TG) 53.16 on 18 June 1944, the net-layer was cruising east of Guam when Japanese planes attacked at 17:59. Utilizing local control and observing excellent fire discipline, Aloe's 20 mm and .50-caliber batteries scored hits on three enemy planes. Two of these Japanese aircraft crashed and the third departed the area in flames.

Her last action with enemy planes came on 28 May 1945, while she was anchored in Nakagusuku Wan, Okinawa, serving as part of Net and Buoy Unit 3 (Task Unit 32.8.3). During that morning, she took a suicider under fire with all her guns as the kamikaze made a dive on the anchorage.

War's end in August 1945, found Aloe still at Okinawa. While her battle with the Japanese may have been over, there were still the "elements" with which to contend. On 9 October 1945, a typhoon swept across Okinawa. During the storm, Snowbell (AN-52) inflicted minor damage on Aloe when the former drifted down on her. Snowbell's stern collided with Aloe's starboard bow and ripped a hole below the main deck level five feet long.