Changes

On the 9th, Barnegat received orders to ascend the Wadi Sebou to establish an air base at Port Lyautey. The next day, Dallas (DD 199) led SS Contessa up the Wadi Sebou to Port Lyautey, where Army troops landed and took the nearby airstrip. Barnegat followed on the 11th after she secured a French pilot and reached her destination by late afternoon. The next day, she unloaded VP 73's equipment, setting up Port Lyautey air station on the southeastern corner of the airfield. She also established a port directorate and a shipping control office. On the 12th, Barnegat radioed VP 73 that the field was ready, and the first plane arrived from Lyeness, England, at 0800 the next day. Within hours, most of VP 73 was “in business” there, flying their first patrols. Barnegat housed and fed VP 73 until the squadron managed to set up a mess ashore, but VP 73 was self sufficient by 24 November. On 10 December, Barnegat got underway to transport a detachment of French native troops to [[Casablanca]]. She reached her destination early on the 11th and disembarked the troops. Barnegat then received orders to proceed to the United States with Convoy GUF 2A, and she headed homeward the next day.

On the 9th, Barnegat received orders to ascend the Wadi Sebou to establish an air base at Port Lyautey. The next day, Dallas (DD 199) led SS Contessa up the Wadi Sebou to Port Lyautey, where Army troops landed and took the nearby airstrip. Barnegat followed on the 11th after she secured a French pilot and reached her destination by late afternoon. The next day, she unloaded VP 73's equipment, setting up Port Lyautey air station on the southeastern corner of the airfield. She also established a port directorate and a shipping control office. On the 12th, Barnegat radioed VP 73 that the field was ready, and the first plane arrived from Lyeness, England, at 0800 the next day. Within hours, most of VP 73 was “in business” there, flying their first patrols. Barnegat housed and fed VP 73 until the squadron managed to set up a mess ashore, but VP 73 was self-sufficient by 24 November. On 10 December, Barnegat got underway to transport a detachment of French native troops to [[Casablanca]]. She reached her destination early on the 11th and disembarked the troops. Barnegat then received orders to proceed to the United States with Convoy GUF 2A, and she headed homeward the next day.

Barnegat established a independent air base at Tagus Cove, enabling the patrol bombers to extend their coverage farther off the coast of South America than previously possible. There, she provided fuel for the planes; deployed lighted mooring buoys; billeted and fed the crews; provided bombs and bomb-loading crews; kept crash and fueling boats in the water at all times to fulfill all of the squadron’s needs. Occasionally, Barnegat also carried out salvage and rescue operations out of Coco Solo—participating in a search for a lost F6F pilot in March 1945 and assisting some downed PBM’s in June. The end of hostilities with Germany in the spring of 1945 and with Japan that summer altered neither the tempo nor the scope of Barnegat’s operations, for she remained busy at Coco Solo into September 1945, making only one brief visit to the United States—at Miami, Fla.--between 18 and 22 September.

Barnegat established an independent air base at Tagus Cove, enabling the patrol bombers to extend their coverage farther off the coast of South America than previously possible. There, she provided fuel for the planes; deployed lighted mooring buoys; billeted and fed the crews; provided bombs and bomb-loading crews; kept crash and fueling boats in the water at all times to fulfill all of the squadron’s needs. Occasionally, Barnegat also carried out salvage and rescue operations out of Coco Solo—participating in a search for a lost F6F pilot in March 1945 and assisting some downed PBM’s in June. The end of hostilities with Germany in the spring of 1945 and with Japan that summer altered neither the tempo nor the scope of Barnegat’s operations, for she remained busy at Coco Solo into September 1945, making only one brief visit to the United States—at Miami, Fla.--between 18 and 22 September.